The new book centers on characters chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
