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The new book features characters pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt Greene 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 is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states 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 be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. 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 partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par