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The new book features characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, 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 compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par