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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down 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 taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par