The new book features individuals chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
