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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par