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This latest work features individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, 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 often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par