The new book is populated with individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated 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 personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
