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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the type Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par