The new book features individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
