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The new book centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Kraus began as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, 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 great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par