🔗 Share this article

This latest work centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par