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The new book is populated with individuals chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par