The new book features protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
