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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par