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The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing 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 rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.

As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".

The Murder Narrative

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par