The new book centers on characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. At the same time, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
