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The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone 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 much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says 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 overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par