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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging 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 position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.

As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, 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 fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par