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The new book is populated with individuals pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this appears a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much 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 the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par