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The Four Spent the Day Together features characters chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. However it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim 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 forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering 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 repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par