This latest work is populated with protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
