The new book features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
