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This latest work centers on characters chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par