"The book begins with the parents of Catt Greene (an avatar for Kraus) as they start a family and strive to attain the American Dream. Catt's family circumstances remain precarious, and bright-but-bullied Catt is going off the rails by the time she reaches her teens. The family's abrupt decision to emigrate to New Zealand reroutes her from what increasingly feels like a foregone dead-end."
"There's the divorce from her first husband, Mikal (a stand-in for the late Sylvère Lotringer); remarriage to Paul, a social worker struggling with drug and alcohol addiction; and the purchase of what Catt hopes will be a dream retreat in North Minnesota. Then there's the dissociating experience of having her first book suddenly explode in the public consciousness, only to later find herself "cancelled" for being a landlord (a fact which fictional Catt, like Kraus herself, has never hidden)."
Chris Kraus's first novel since 2012 maps personal history onto national upheaval, connecting a blue-collar Connecticut childhood with a senseless Minnesota murder in 2019 (occurring on January 6). The narrative follows Catt Greene from parental aspirations and bullying through emigration to New Zealand, divorce from Mikal, remarriage to Paul (a social worker with addictions), and purchase of a Minnesota retreat. The story charts sudden literary fame followed by cancellation over landlord status, and explores intersections of culture, class, migration, and notoriety. Kraus's profile rose after the 2016 Amazon adaptation of I Love Dick and subsequent publications including a Kathy Acker biography and a book of essays.
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