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The Four Spent the Day Together features characters seeking clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to 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 prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par