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This latest work features characters seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this seems a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

The writer began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par