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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts 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, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par