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The Four Spent the Day Together features characters chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader fond of honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par