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The new book centers on individuals seeking clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

The writer was originally an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par