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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.

Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.

As a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.

Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Murder Narrative

Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy 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 murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par