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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise 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 brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the style that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par