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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par