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The new book is populated with characters seeking clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this appears a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par