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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words 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 precisely her dream."

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 dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par