🔗 Share this article

This latest work centers on characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par