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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this seems a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Killing Story

So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par