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The new book centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation 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, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. 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 could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par