The new book centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of honed writing of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
