The new book is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" 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 leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
