The new book features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the type the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with 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
