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The new book features individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to refined literature of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par