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This latest work features characters seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to try out different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par