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This latest work features individuals pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance 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 initial segment.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks 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 social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par