This latest work features characters pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", 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 story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader who favors crafted language of the variety 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 accommodates small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the killer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
