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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par