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This latest work centers on individuals seeking clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw 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 anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par