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This latest work features characters seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions 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 a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par