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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

As a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned 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 be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par