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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par