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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn 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 eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par