This latest work is populated with protagonists seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified 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 departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the killer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
