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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. 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 Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par