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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to try out different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized 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 responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par