The new book features protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the type the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
