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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par