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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters seeking clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

The writer began as an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par