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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to try out different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to refined literature of the type the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with 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 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par