The new book centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
