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The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par