The new book is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this seems a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to try out different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
