This latest work centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
