This latest work centers on protagonists pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer started out as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
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 taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
