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The new book features protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough 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 ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the type the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece 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 fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par