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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative 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 property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par