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This latest work features protagonists seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par