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The new book features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par