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The new book features protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par