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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par