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The new book centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought 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 major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, 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 violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par