This latest work is populated with protagonists seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
