The new book features individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer began as an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
