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This latest work features protagonists pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader attracted to polished prose of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par