The new book centers on characters pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven 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 "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
