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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.

Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. 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 murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par