This latest work centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker 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 moment when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "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 hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
