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This latest work is populated with individuals chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness 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 much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned 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 honed writing of the type the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail 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 lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard 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 bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par