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The new book centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par