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The new book centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work 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 next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world driven 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 "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par