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The new book centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

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

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma 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. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par