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This latest work is populated with individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she states that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par