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The new book is populated with individuals chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed 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 Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par