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The new book features protagonists pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour 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 seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par