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The new book centers on individuals seeking clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to explore different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing 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 point that her narrative ends almost mid-par