The new book is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this seems a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates 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
