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This latest work features individuals seeking clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par