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The new book is populated with individuals chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire 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 account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par