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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus started out as an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

For this reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.

As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Frustration and Disruption

I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par