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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist 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 locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, 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 delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par