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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

The writer began as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the account, 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 own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par