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This latest work is populated with protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par