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This latest work centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par