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The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" 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 looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot 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 was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par