The new book features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. 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 start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the killer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
