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This latest work features individuals pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par