This latest work is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
