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The new book is populated with individuals seeking clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. But then it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par