This latest work is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
