This latest work centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim 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 alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
