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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

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 histories. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par