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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par