The new book centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. However it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, 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, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband 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 rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech 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 destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
