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The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.

From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work

Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par