The new book features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
