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The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par