The new book features characters chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to try out different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
