This latest work centers on characters seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to meet 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 in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
