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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths 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 destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par