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The new book centers on protagonists pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, 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 narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "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 hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par