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This latest work features protagonists seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative 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 much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par