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This latest work centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par