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This latest work features individuals seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to explore different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much 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 be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par