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The new book centers on protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par