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The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed 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 maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader fond of refined literature of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par