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This latest work features individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. But then it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness 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 turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells 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 destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par