The new book centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
