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The new book centers on individuals chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. However it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim 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 lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par