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This latest work centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. But then it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par