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This latest work centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par