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The new book centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her own fresh start, because this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par