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The new book is populated with individuals chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par