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The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units 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 feels helpless as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par