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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

The writer began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks 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 not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par