This latest work features individuals chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success 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 lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
