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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to meet 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, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par