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This latest work features protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

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

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par