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This latest work features protagonists pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par