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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par