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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader attracted to refined literature of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par