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This latest work is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this seems a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par