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This latest work features individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket 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 says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent 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 her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par