The new book features characters chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
