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The new book is populated with protagonists pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this appears a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "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 referenced day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par