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This latest work centers on individuals chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this seems a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. However it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted 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 second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par