The new book centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, because this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
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 backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of refined literature of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
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 accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us 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 her narrative ends almost mid-par
