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The new book is populated with characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma 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 expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par