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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par