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This latest work is populated with protagonists pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

As a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par