🔗 Share this article

The new book is populated with individuals chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this seems a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to explore different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states 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 not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par