The new book features individuals seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
