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The new book centers on characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around 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 frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par