The new book is populated with characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed 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 Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
