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The new book is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par