The new book centers on protagonists pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative 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 much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to 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 converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
