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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the kind that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par