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This latest work is populated with protagonists pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, 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 account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par