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The new book is populated with characters seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues 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 Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par