The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity 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 try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated 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. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
