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This latest work centers on characters chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role 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 explore different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par