The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
The writer began as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named 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 account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
