The new book is populated with individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile 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 often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
