The new book features characters pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. However it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world 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 self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
