The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
