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This latest work centers on characters seeking clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. 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 her narrative ends almost mid-par