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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

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

As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units 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 is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par