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The new book features protagonists pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. At the same time, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to try out different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par