The new book centers on protagonists seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
