This latest work features characters seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this appears a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
