The new book is populated with characters seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
