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This latest work is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl 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. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par