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This latest work centers on characters chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the killer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par