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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par