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The new book centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges 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 Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par