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The Four Spent the Day Together features characters seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par