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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, 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 story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par