This latest work is populated with characters pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves 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 Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
