The new book is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the killer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
