This latest work features protagonists pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader fond of honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says 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 not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par