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This latest work features characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par