The new book centers on characters chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
