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The new book is populated with characters seeking clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this appears a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Kraus began as an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, 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.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par