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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par