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The new book centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

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

As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs 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 the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par