The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer began as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
