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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn 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 murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par