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The new book features protagonists seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

The writer was originally an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par