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The new book is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative 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 become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts 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, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated 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 go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par