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The new book is populated with characters seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this seems a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

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. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par