This latest work features characters pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to explore different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired 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, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
