The new book centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment 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 listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
