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The new book is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", 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 precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par