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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the killer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par