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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this appears a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses 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 most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par