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The new book features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par