Emma Cline is literary genius at its finest. There are lines within this book that are so well written they deserve a second or third read to fully appreciate them.

I found this book fascinating as a character study, specifically a study in the lengths one can go to in deluding oneself. Tension ramps up throughout the narrative, as it becomes increasingly clear that the main character will not get what she wants and at the same time the main character will not give up. I wanted to keep reading to see just how far that tension could stretch before it snapped. My one criticism is that the central premise is nothing new. The idea that the playgrounds of wealthy East Coasters are exclusionary is older than the Great Gatsby. This theme could have been made more nuanced by an examination of how, though Alex will never fully belong in this place, she is able to extend her stay only by virtue of being a young, pretty, white woman.

Life’s a beach, and then the guy you stole $10,000 from is on his way to find you.

WHEW. Where to start with The Guest? Reading it felt like hearing some ominous gossip about an ex-friend from college whose hair you used to hold back while she got acquainted with the toilet bowl. It felt like sipping on an hours-old cocktail you 1. forgot you ordered - the ice has long since melted - and 2. can’t technically afford. It felt like twilight at the beach when you have work the next morning but you’ve been drinking and soaking up UV rays for hours, feeling the combination of sea matter and salt and sweat on your skin, and don’t have a hotel room to take a shower - but you keep drinking anyway.

And that’s really the tone of the novel. After pissing off her wealthy, older paramour before his famed MDW, our anti-hero Alex finds herself adrift in a wealthy beach town, conning her way into shelter and comfort - if only for a night, and at a high cost to those who find themselves in her path.

The grifter vibes here were not immaculate. They were red-eyed, ill-planned, steeped in desperation. I read this book a few weeks ago and it’s still giving me that itchy, uncomfy feeling of watching someone taking a running start to cannonball into disaster - but it’s gorgeously dressed up in Emma Cline’s mesmerizing prose and ability to unspool an abstract feeling into letters and punctuation.

Was it an enjoyable reading experience? No. Should you pick it up? Absolutely. Read to scratch a scam rat fixand for impeccably drawn tension, mid- to high-stakes drama, and to feel better about your own bad decisions, very likely are not as as terrible as Alex’s.

Instantly riveting, exquisitely written, eerily astute. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this one as the premise didn't totally jazz me but wow, this was a great read. Having spent some time in the world she writes in, I was blown away by how well she captured it and fascinated by her ability to inhabit this character's inner life. I love when an author lives up to the hype and I look forward to putting this book in the hands of other readers. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital arc.

Funny to read this right after Lauren Groff's upcoming novel, which is also about a girl from terrible circumstances fighting to find sustenance and shelter in a harsh world - in this case, the wealthy enclaves of Long Island. It's honestly a pretty grim read; Alex is so desperate, and so doomed, and the people she's trying to find purchase with are so blandly awful. If you liked watching White Lotus you might enjoy it. Not badly written and I read it avidly, but it gave me no joy and left a sad aftertaste.

This book is well written on the line level, very neat and precise, but it is a disaster of a book. Alex is vapid and soulless and has absolutely no depth. I never felt anything for her but disdain, and the ending .was ridiculous. Reading this novel was a complete waste of my time.

In THE GUEST, we meet Alex, a very three dimensional character trying to survive in a one dimensional world of self serving residents in an upscale community. Alex lives her life as a chameleon, changing and adapting to fit into her current surroundings. The story is told in third person and moves quickly from residence to party to residence as Alex "works" the crowd to find someone to care for her, both physically and emotionally. As in her previous titles, Ms Cline has given Alex a depth of character that we can all recognize, vulnerable yet tough, caring but carefree at the same time, I felt sorrow, anger and hopeful for her, a definte testament to Ms Cline's writing skills. THE GUEST is another 5 star title from Emma Cline.

3.5 stars rounded up

When 22-year old Alex is asked to leave her rich ‘boyfriend’s’ summer house on Long Island, she decides to stay around for a few more days until his Labor Day party, but she has no money, an erratically working phone, a pill habit, and nowhere to stay.

LIke many a hero on a quest, Alex meets up with assorted people who help her on her way. Those that she comes across are, like her, disenfranchised from the moneyed house-owning adults; weekend renters, employees, children, and those on the wrong end of power in a relationship. She is unwilling to tell them her real story and uses them all for whatever she can get: food, a room, re-entry to the upper echelon, paying with desultory sex and a willingness to be whatever they want her to be.

There’s not a lot more plot than that but it’s a riveting and ugly portrayal of the wealthy from the view of the underbelly. The self-absorbed men and women are scathingly pictured and seem as empty and staged as the houses they summer in.

Alex herself is something of a void: we know little about her other than some sketched in details of her life in the city, and we see her putting on, often unsuccessfully, a chameleon-like persona to fit in with different circumstances. In some ways, she reminded me of a Bret Easton Ellis character but the author has given her much more to work with in a much more concise setting.

As Alex gets closer to her Labor Day deadline, there is no clear picture of what she thinks she’s going to achieve. Her growing desperation doesn’t let her see beyond that target and as she burns boats with the people who’ve picked her up along the way her future remains opaque.

This is one of those books that I got more out of when I’d finished it and looked back on it. It’s somewhat less immediately engaging than The Girls, the author’s previous novel about a young woman’s experience in a Manson-like cult, but feels like it comes from a more confident and mature writer. If you like books about disengaged young people then this is a good one for you.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Good, but in a sort of alien way. It brings to mind some Patricia Highsmith novels where you have a person smoothly and effectively performing insane acts of deception that no rational person would ever do and completely fooling people (if that's even the right term for it) because their behavior is so outside the norm of what one might expect. It puts you a little at arm's length as the reader because the main character's worldview is so unhinged at times, but hey, there are worse people to be reminiscent of than Patricia Highsmith.

The Guest is a compulsive slice-of-life as we follow young grifter Alex as she quickly goes through a series of different characters trying to find a new place to stay after her sugar daddy breaks up with her. such an intriguing premise and Cline’s treatment of a semi-unlikeable character like Alex is written so well. I was completely fascinated seeing where she would turn up next, and Cline writes her with just enough draw so the reader actually cares about where she ends up.

I found this book intense. I can’t imagine living the life of a grifter- not for me. Alex bounces from person to person place to place adjusting her personality to take advantage where she can. Set in an idyllic location over the course of a few days. It will leave you to wonder who is really using who??

This is a story about survival.  Alex, 22 years old, has finally found a measure of security living with an older man, Simon, at his beautiful home on the East End of Long Island.  Simon knows little about Alex or her background -- by her design.  She does her best to fit seamlessly and unobtrusively into his life.  But after an uncharacteristic incident at one of the many parties the two attend together where Alex does what she wants instead of what Simon expects, Simon sends Alex away with nothing more than a ride to the local train station by his house manager and a ticket back to the city.  

Alex is adrift, not least of all because she has nowhere to return to in the city after a series of incidents make it impossible for her to go back to any part of her old life.  So Alex stays on Long Island, determined to make it to Labor Day when she plans to reappear at Simon's house for his annual party and hopefully regain his favor.  Over the course of several days, with only the clothes in her beach bag and a phone that barely works, she finds a way to survive by using her greatest talent -- understanding what others want and molding herself to meet their needs.  As she slips in and out of people's lives and takes what she needs to get through the day, her efforts at her own survival often leave those who find themselves in her wake worse off and not quite understanding what happened to them.

This was an intriguing novel.  As a reader, you feel like you are in Alex's head, as she is making the constant compromises and justifications necessary, in her mind, to survive, and convincing herself of her own shifting narrative.  In Alex's relationships with each of the people she relies on for survival, she both shape shifts to become what they want -- sharing just enough for them to reach the conclusions she and they want -- and maintains a core commitment to her own self.  And, as a result, we see how far people will go to convince themselves of what they want to see in a person -- whether about their own selves or others in their lives.

Strongly recommended!

I am struggling with where to start this review because I don’t really understand what I read. I initially requested this book on NetGalley because I enjoyed The Girls by this author enough to be curious about this one.

This book follows Alex, a character that I just did not like at all and didn’t really find to be that interesting as she was just very manipulative and used everyone. This book is largely just her wandering around a wealthy area after being kicked out of her rich boyfriend’s home. You are largely inside this character’s head and not a lot happens. This one took me a while to get through because I was just really bored with her musings which became very repetitive and all of the other characters that she meets are so flat and not well developed.

This is one of the few instances where I am just kind of at a loss of what the author was trying to convey or even what the point of this story was. I kept thinking maybe this was leading to something interesting, but the book just suddenly ends. So I am left feeling very frustrated on this one. I think if this had not been an arc that I requested, I probably would have DNF’d fairly early on.

I could not finish enough of this book to be able to leave a comprehensive review, but I hope it finds its audience and I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I read Cline’s short story collection, Daddy last summer, and I can see a common thread between that collection and The Guest. In both works, Cline paints males as detached, self-involved, and advantageous. Her males are privileged and always get what they want, with little thought of the consequences to others. (This might be a result of her own personal experiences with an ex boyfriend’s copyright lawsuit over, The Girls?) In The Guest, Alex is a young woman who is consistently taken advantage by these men, and as a result, she’s learned to disassociate and do whatever she needs to survive, even if it’s morally questionable. She’s a drug addicted grifter who lies to take advantage of and steal money from rich men. Despite her consistently making poor choices, you can’t help but sympathize with Alex, even if she’s hard to relate to. I mean, what’s the real crime here? Older men taking sexual advantage of a troubled young woman, or a young woman using the only thing she believes she has (her sexuality) to make it through the night? Of course, neither is “right,” but that isn’t the point. The point is that it’s complicated. It’s a brand of feminism that is messy, but gives power to female sexuality.

But it’s also a class commentary, as Cline wants us to understand just how out of place Alex is amongst these elites. She’s surrounded by indulgence, tranquility and easy living, but can never fully access it. Strings are always attached, but to Alex it is okay because it will end up working out. The ending is ambiguous, but we can read between the lines. It’s not a happy tale, but I really enjoy Cline’s style and the way she renders her characters.

The Guest by Emma Cline is a lot different than the first novel I read of hers in 2016. The Girls was right up my alley as a 1960s Manson cult-esque thriller. This is NOTHING like that story and honestly this premise did not entice me as much as the first.

We learn about Alex, a 20-something woman who essentially uses rich men and well...anyone to keep her
borderline vagrant lifestyle paid for. After many cringe-worthy moments of her sometimes alcohol & drug induced pool hopping, Alex's random encounters with mostly innocent bystanders are something I don't think I'd survive for more than 12 hours.

Throughout her antics, she alludes to a Dom person from another life who she owes a lot of money too, and who she suspects is closing in on her for his payback. Cline builds an ominous tension that kept me up way too late as these two are about to run-in with each other. Alex is an extremely unlikeable character, but I was very invested in what her fate was going to lie with both him, Simon and her other hosts.

*** SPOILER ***
If you're looking for closure on her story, this is not that book unfortunately. The reader is left to make their own conclusions on the rest of her journey with Simon & Dom.

Also, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE DOG!?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I read the author’s debut novel and enjoyed it. I can’t put my finger on my feelings about this one. It was a quick read and had an intriguing protagonist, but left so many unanswered questions. We learn very little about any of the characters and (spoiler alert) end on a cliffhanger. It left me wanting more while not liking anyone involved in the plot or wanting to spend more time with them. This book is for someone, but I’m not sure it’s me.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

After the older man she has been living with sends her off with a train ticket back home, Alex devises a plan to stay in Long Island's posh area for as long as she can in the hopes of a reconciliation. Through various encounters, she traverses the lives of the rich and discovers the intricacies that come with such affluence and what she would have to surrender to be a part of it.

This novel teeters on the edge of obsession in such an alluring way. It illustrates what it means to no longer be desirable and the way it leads one women to push the boundaries of sex and manipulation. The keen observations she makes concerning the male gaze and the human psyche leaves a bitter taste in your mouth knowing that all of alex's issues are ones that she has manifested through her own self-victimization.

Cline offers no redemption or blatant motive for alex's tendencies and it's one of the reasons why I loved this book so much. I would often be left to second guess the intentions of our messy main character: reiterating how Alex is a friend to no one but herself. When left to her own devices, Alex manages to weave a path of destruction with everyone she comes in contact with, showing just how far she will go to obtain the life she believes she deserves.

The storytelling is magnetic and makes you feel as if you're drifting through life alongside Alex. “The Guest” was a pleasantly immersive book and I look forward to reading more of Cline's work.
I would definitely recommend this to those who enjoyed “Days of Abandonment' by Elena Ferrante and “All's Well' by Mona Awad or any story about an apathetic woman attempting to regain a semblance of control in her life.

To say pill popping Alex is unmoored is an understatement. Having fled a man named Dom in New York City, twenty-two year old Alex is now shacking up with successful Simon in his fifties for the summer. She's become an expert at telling the lies she needs to survive and molds herself into who she thinks she needs to be in order stay afloat. But after crashing Simon’s car and then having a little too much to drink at a fancy party, Simon kicks her out, leaving her to fend for herself. This is a book for people who love interiority – getting to intimately know a character through and through. Alex is flawed, scrambling, lost, but I truly felt for her. I was swept up in these small moments in Alex's life. Reading The Guest felt a lot like floating in the ocean, bobbing along, at time, seeing what flotsam and jetsam float past and then being swept away by a riptide. Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House for the advanced review copy.

My conviction that Emma Cline can do no wrong lives on with THE GUEST.

Tense, glittering, and summer-sticky, this is a story about a young woman who exists on the periphery of where she doesn’t belong: gated driveways, designer bags, beach clubs. Alex knows enough about these people to cosplay as one of them for hours, sometimes a handful of days, at a time— flitting in and out of their pools and dinners— always just a hair’s breadth away from getting caught— but the anxiety of being found out eats at her. She can’t afford to slip up the way others do, can’t afford the sweat stains on her silk dresses or a red face or a maxed out credit card.

So what happens when she does start to make mistakes? What happens when she’s ejected from their midst?

I couldn’t look away. I didn’t want to. Emma Cline has this thing where she understands girlhood so well— the heat of it, the yearning, the needing so badly to fit somewhere. Always looking in through windows, noticing the smear of dirt under your bare feet.

Happy pub week to THE GUEST, which comes out on May 16th. I loved every moment of this and will be recommending it to everyone for the unforeseeable future.

Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC 🤍