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The new book centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. However it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par