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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par