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This latest work centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par