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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par