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This latest work is populated with individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes 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 persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par