The new book centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of refined literature of the type the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, 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 remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
