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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words 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 precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, 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