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This latest work features characters pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "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, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona 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. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments 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 moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par