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The new book centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. 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 may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par