The new book is populated with protagonists seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par