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This latest work features characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation 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 eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par