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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much 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 Killing Story

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par