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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.

From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par