The new book centers on characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the killer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy 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 individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
