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This latest work is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par