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This latest work centers on characters chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity 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 currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

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 pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par