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The new book is populated with individuals seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par