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The new book is populated with characters seeking clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "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

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par