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This latest work is populated with characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to explore different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to see 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, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par