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The new book centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par