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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, 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 exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par