The new book features protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot 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 fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
