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The new book features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world 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 fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par