This latest work features characters chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
