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This latest work is populated with protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when 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, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of refined literature of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par