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The new book centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech 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."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par