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The new book centers on protagonists pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par