This latest work is populated with characters pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
The writer began as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their histories. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
