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The new book is populated with individuals seeking clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes 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" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par