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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. At the same time, she seems to be making her own fresh start, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. 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 America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par