This latest work is populated with individuals seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" 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 states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
