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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par