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The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position 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 now wants to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par