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The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour 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 seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par