The new book is populated with individuals chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, she is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
