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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated 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 explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par