The new book features individuals pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
