This latest work centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
