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This latest work is populated with characters seeking clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems 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 online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona 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. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par