The new book centers on individuals chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues 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 Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
