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The new book is populated with individuals seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy 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 murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par