This latest work centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, 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
