The new book is populated with characters pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
