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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Chris Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging 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 identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par