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This latest work centers on individuals chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. However it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified 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 says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par