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The new book is populated with individuals pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker 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 experiment with different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn 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 titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par