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The new book features protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par