This latest work features protagonists pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the variety that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece 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 persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, 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 violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
