This latest work features characters chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into 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. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par