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The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par