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The new book features protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to explore different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself 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 bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par