🔗 Share this article

The new book features characters seeking clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this appears a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with 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 unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par