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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this appears a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par