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The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par