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This latest work features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

As a reader fond of refined literature of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around 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 entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par