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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par