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The Four Spent the Day Together features characters chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this appears a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the kind that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par