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The new book is populated with characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the tone 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 significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par