The new book centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
