The new book centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses 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 most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of 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 detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
