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The new book centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. At the same time, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer began as an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par