This latest work centers on protagonists pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
