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The Four Spent the Day Together features characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par