This latest work centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma 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 hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
