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The new book is populated with individuals chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the type the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim 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 in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par