The new book features characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
