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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

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 narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par