This latest work centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
