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The new book is populated with individuals seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par