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The new book is populated with individuals seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, 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 largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled 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 "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par