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This latest work is populated with protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this appears a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice 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 follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise 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 community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par