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The new book features characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this seems a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par