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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex 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 killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par