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This latest work centers on individuals pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to explore different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par