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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par