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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

The writer began as an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par