This latest work is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this appears a different type of work – observational, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
