The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, 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 organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression 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 the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
