This latest work centers on individuals seeking clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, she is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
