The new book centers on protagonists seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
