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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer began as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par