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This latest work is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim 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 in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par