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The new book is populated with individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

The writer was originally an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent 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 youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

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. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par