The new book centers on individuals seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to explore different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
