The new book centers on characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
