The new book is populated with individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure 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 Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the anger and fear 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 "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
