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The new book is populated with characters seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to explore different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering 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.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par