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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this seems a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par