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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks 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 be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par