The new book is populated with characters seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
