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The new book centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par