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The new book is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States 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 spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par