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The new book features individuals seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim 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 alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par