The new book is populated with individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
