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The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this appears a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

The writer began 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, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says 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

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par