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This latest work features characters seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this seems a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par