I read the author's debut novel The Girls and loved it. When I saw this was coming out I had to read it. I am unsure how to explain this book. I am still unclear about the ending. That said even though it appears the book is about this girl trying to hang out in LI until a Labor Day party with little money and no place to stay you can't help but watch like a train wreck to see what she does and what happens. You think this will be boring but it draws you in.

This book feels like you are trapped in the Triangle of Sadness film. It follows Alex, as she is unceremoniously kicked out of her boyfriend’s house in the Hamptons. Trying to hang on, Alex surfs from situation to situation, sure if she can just make it to the Labor Day party, everything will turn out fine. The ending will probably frustrate some people—there’s no real closure.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on May 16th.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This novel is mesmerizing as it tells the story of Alex, a 22 year old grifter who has been invited to spend the month of August with her very wealthy and much older boyfriend, Simon, at his beach house on Long Island. After getting into a fender bender in his car and then embarrassing him at a dinner party, Simon summarily dismisses Alex with only a train ticket back to the city and a ride to the station. Alex has burned all of her bridges in the city, so she convinces herself that Simon just needs a few days to cool off and then she can walk back into his life at his Labor Day party.

Told in third person from Alex’s perspective, we drift with her from place to place as she does what she must to stay on Long Island until Simon’s party. We never learn much about Alex’s murky past, but you still get the sense that you know her and what she’s about. Her story unfolds in a hazy, drug and alcohol-fueled, almost dream-like narrative. It is compulsively readable, a train wreck that is impossible to look away from as Alex sets a collision course with her destiny.

I love Emma Cline and her latest novel "The Guest" is tremendous! A really exciting story of a woman who is basically a "stoweaway" in the Hamptons. Alex tries to scam her way into various social circles and it's legitimately thrilling as you wait to see if she's going to be discovered.

Cline is a master at capturing the details of the world around us--the people and their possessions. Read it.

Netgalley provided me a free e-galley in return for an honest review.

I was looking forward to this book, as a fan of Emma Cline's 'The Girls' and her sparse, yet powerful, style of writing. When #NetGalley provided an advance copy, I dove in immediately and stayed captivated through the final page. The book exceeded expectations. It is subtle, enigmatic, and very dark. The main character, Alex, navigates through the lives of, primarily, men by becoming the woman she believes they desire. Her dreamy thinking resembles a fairy tale, but the reality described is the opposite of anything magical or glamorous. It is very, very lonely and tense. Unfortunately, she is a stranger even to herself and cannot effectively gauge her own emotions and how she comes across. From the beginning, it is obvious that she has suffered tremendous mental and emotional damage in her past, and is detached from others and from herself.

Many lines point vaguely to her inner experience: "Alex had the sick sense that she was a ghost. Wandering in the land of the living." "[She] just needed to be seen with anyone who had already been approved, and that would be indication enough that she belonged." She was in "The game of convincing people how much things were worth..."

Also dark and notable is her damage to those around her -- people and things. She found that "people were mostly fine with being victimized in small doses." Scattered throughout the novel are vague references to an earlier life -- in the company of other girls who "cried for faraway mothers" some referred to as "anorexic Eastern Europeans." She alluded to learning how to maneuver herself around men from these types of women. Other parts of the novel make it plain that she falls short of these aspirations and is even distanced from and excluded by the very women with whom she "worked."

Her flaws and misperceptions, and how she haplessly and unconscionably ends up entangled in the lives of even those who cannot protect themselves, is what's most gripping and kept me, as the reader, constantly awaiting what would happen next. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I just love this writer. Fans of her writing will not be disappointed. And I can absolutely see this being brought to a larger screen.

Have you ever just felt the tension jumping off the page in a story? This book had me at the edge of my seat and I did not want to stop. It’s not a thriller, but you will be asking yourself where is this going? (Amazon calls this psychological fiction.). In this novel, a 22-year-old women with an ambiguous sense of morals and self drifts through the beaches of Long Island after her older lover has his assistant dump her off at the train station after she makes a series of bad decisions at a party. This book made my skin crawl, but in a good way.

This is a crazy book. I remember reading THE GIRLS by Celine back in college and loving the dark suspense so was really looking forward to reading this one. This book also has the dark suspense mixed in with some psychological thriller (though it’s not really thriller, more just psychological). You get so wrapped up in Alex’s story and lies and manipulations and you just have no idea where she’s going to take it next so you just keep reading. Would recommend this book if you’re looking for a not-frilly summer read (set in summer in the Hamptons) and if you like dark psychological suspense books.

I've read both a novel and short stories form this author and I have to say that this is my least favorite of everything I've read from her. The MC is as aimless as this book, which is probably the intention but I was left wanting more. Don't get me wrong, I still think the writing was good but I was wanting more... at first it felt a bit like The Swimmer but I don't think it achieved a bigger purpose than the immediacy of wandering. Still, I will continue to look forward to this author's work and definitely recommend her.

The Guest comes out next week on May 16, 2023 and you can purchase HERE.

When Simon had first taken her to the beach, he'd kicked off his shoes at the entrance. Everyone did, apparently: there were shoes and sandals piled up by the low wood railing. No on takes them? Alex asked. Simon raised his eyebrows. Who would take someone's shoes?

But that had been Alex's immediate thought--how easy it would be to take things, out here. All sorts of things. The bikes leaning against the fence. The bags unattended on towels. The cars left unlocked, no one wanting to carry their keys on the beach. A system that existed only because everyone believed they were among people like themselves.

The story begins and ends in the same way, which would make you think it brings the story full circle, but it doesn’t. It seems like it’d be better condensed, as a short story. 

Alex is in her early 20s, and other book reviews describe her as a “grifter” though I’d call her more of a drifter. I didn’t see too many areas where she’s conning other people. She definitely didn’t have the audacity of an Anna Delvey or the emotional magnetism that most grifter story main characters have.

Instead, she kind of seemed… bored, inserting herself into places where she doesn’t belong for as long as the situation will allow. In some instances it makes sense, a house party, the beach. But in others - like a short, couple-hour stint babysitting a child she doesn’t know - it seems outlandish.

I wish there would have been more outright cons, but maybe the point was subtlety and creating the atmosphere of the Long Island shore. There are instances where something more sinister is alluded to with callbacks to an old friend/lover/client she owes money and previous men she hooked up with/possibly stole from, but nothing that seemed criminal or even that shocking.

However, mostly she’s just crashing with people re: sugar daddies she meets. Though near the end she has an encounter with someone closer to her age, which is kind of a cringy turn of events.

The descriptions are what kept me reading. Think about that show White Lotus and how beautiful the people and scenery are, and then you realize nothing is really happening. There are a few interesting moments but not anything that leads to a satisfying build. But you’re still intrigued. 

That’s how I felt reading this book. I wanted something else to happen but even when I realized it was just Alex drifting from one place to the next, in the span of a few days, trying to make it back to the place she called “home” I just drifted with her.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy. As soon as I heard that Emma Cline was coming out with a new book, I was really interested. I devoured The Girls in one day as soon as it came out. The Guest did not disappoint. Emily Henry aside, I think this could be the book of the summer, the ultimate beach read.

Cline really goes all in on the main character, Alex. Right from the beginning the tension and mystery builds. There are so many layers that Cline builds into her character without ever revealing too much. I found myself continuously wondering how she was always able to take advantage of people, because Cline really makes her into such a snake, slithering around to each situation as she sees the opportunity. Alex is the ultimate unreliable narrator, and probably has very little shot of gaining anyone's sympathy.

I also really liked how Cline really relied on the ocean and water in general as this other character that was one of the only constants in Alex's life. You could feel the push and pull that the water adds to the novel's progression. It becomes this vessel that both cleanses and tempts Alex throughout the story.

I am definitely recommending this one on my social channels and will be gifting a few copies to friends and family as well!

The Guest by Emma Cline is a very highly recommended literary tale of a lost 22-year-old female grifter.

"A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she’s been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city." This is a deep dive into the life of a young woman who is a sex worker and is desperate to try to survive by using and manipulating a man to survive. She has been kicked out of her lover's house and has five days to survive before the big Labor Day party, where she is sure Simon will welcome her back.

The writing is excellent as Cline captures all of Alex's desperate attempts to just survive and get by five days, only five days, until the Labor Day party where she is sure her recent lover will welcome her back. It is depressing, but inevitable that she will be struggling in her attempts to ingratiate herself with others in order to have some shelter and sustenance to simple survive. Her failures and shortcomings are foretold by her brief backstory. The class differences are glaring in this explosive novel.

Alex is exposed as the person she is currently, but her past is never revealed, so she is never a full realized character, but that is seemingly the point. Her work is selling her body, not her backstory, and she is an expert at being who she needs to be in order to get by. You know where this plot is heading long before you arrive at the end. Even as she makes mistakes, you actually will want her to succeed, even while knowing she won't.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, BookBrowse, Edelweiss, and Amazon

Alex is fleeing a bad situation in the city and attaches herself to a much older man, staying in his house on the east coast (the Hamptons, I presume but I don’t think it is ever mentioned). She enjoys her life there so much that when he tells her to leave, she lies and steals her way around town. Emma Cline is masterful at creating insightful interactions and withering social critiques. Her writing produces this “fever dream” affect that I found incredibly stressful at times. I mean that as a compliment because, this book… I really want someone to explain to me what I just read. I have a feeling that this book is the type of book that is going to generate a lot of talk amongst bookish people, both positive and negative, and I look forward to reading all the commentary.

I received a Digital Advanced Reading Copy of this book from the Publisher via NetGalley.

4.5/5

This is my first Emma Cline novel. I read and enjoyed her short story collection - 'Daddy' - but have not read her debut - 'The Girls. Emma Cline has a knack for creating flawed characters that feel real. Her authorial, narrative voice is strong but not overbearing, lending her work a unique quality immediately identifiable. If you have enjoyed her work in the past, you will certainly enjoy this new novel, as well.

I loved Emma Cline's book The Girls for many of the same reasons I wound up loving in this one. This author tells the most interesting stories featuring women whose lifestyles are not something ordinarily thought of... or even known about. I love the honesty behind this character. The third person narration also gave me a lot of room to wonder at what was really going on in the main character's head.

Alex is kind of a moocher. I would say a professional moocher, but I didn't get much of a professional vibe from Alex. She spends her days going to the beach in Long Island after stealing a pill or two from the older man she's staying with right now. It's a great set-up for someone like Alex. Simon buys her beautiful clothes, jewelry, handbags.... but of course, there is always a price.

When Alex gets booted for a mishap with Simon's car and a small adventure at a party, I felt like I was watching her careen downhill. She does everything in her power, manipulating, stealing, to get back to a safe spot. But her ventures wind up being as ambiguous as she is.

Out May 16, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

I loved this book. The perfect summer read - dreamy, captivating, a flawed character that you root for. The setting of The Hamptons was the best place for this amateur grifter to try to survive - so many ways to interact with class and so many characters to target.
I flew through this - it was so easy to just get lost in these long chapters, wandering around the sand dunes, into the village shops, the pool houses and beach clubs. Taking place over only a few days, there is a ticking clock that keeps the pace brisk and the tension high.
Alex's observations of the people around her are witty and insightful, all framed around who could help her survival the most. The central characters are layered and interesting - this is a snapshot of everyone involved and we never stray too far into the realm of backstory.
This is a strong recommendation for everyone to read this summer!

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

The Guest by Emma Cline is a stark, sad novel about a young (early twenties) woman who belongs nowhere and hustles her way through life in a drugged haze. Alex is a modern-day Holly Golightly but darker.

Alex has run from a toxic relationship with a dangerous man named Dom, who is now stalking her. She escaped the city (an unnamed city) with a fifty-ish man named Simon, who took her along to his beach house for the summer. Simon is a shallow, wealthy man, divorced, fitness-obsessed, who gravitates to trophy girlfriends. He buys her things. She skims from his supply of painkillers. She spends her days lounging on the beach and trying to be agreeable. She wants this safe place to last.

She isn’t the first of his young lovers. And he is not the first man she has sold herself to. But she is having trouble finding new “clients.” It takes more and more effort. She’s burned too many bridges. Simon is a lifeline and the security he represents takes on a mythic quality as Alex drifts farther and farther from any solid footing in life.

Floating around amidst Simon’s friends, ungodly wealthy summer people, Alex is aware of the falseness of their lives and recognizes that she doesn’t belong. Still, she wants to keep this relationship going. But she missteps. Simon throws her out. This is a pattern. Alex cannot stop self-sabotaging.

The remainder of the story is an odyssey of sorts. Alex does not return to the city. Instead, she attempts only to survive the next few days. Simon is throwing a Labor Day party and she believes, or tells herself that she believes, that she needs only to show up at the party and he’ll be so glad to see her that he’ll take her back. So she wanders, grifting, using people, detaching herself from reality, and breaking things and people along the way. Readers will weep for her, but not much, since she is hardly actually there.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Emma Cline, and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This book was WILD!! I have seen Cline's first book, The Girls, so many times over the past few years, and it's been on my TBR for forever, but I just haven't gotten to it. When I saw The Guest on NetGalley, I was so intrigued and wanted to read it as my first introduction to her work. I had no idea what to expect going into the book and upon finishing it, I STILL have no idea what I just read in the best possible way. This was truly an unhinged, unlikeable woman book that was well done in my opinion. I FLEW through the book, as I was shocked by the way Alex maneuvered through life and just had to see what was going to happen next. I found that while I couldn't relate to Alex, I was sympathetic towards her and was rooting for her as a character for the entire book. We all make bad choices and fall on hard times, and although she made more than most, I was still invested in her story. I loved the perfect beachy setting that started losing its luster slowly but surely, as it helped enhance the drama and suspense of the book. I can see this being a great beach read this summer. For me, this was a solid 3.5 read, but I am going ahead and rounding it down, simply because I think the book is almost too short. The book moves at a speed that is both breakneck and crawling; some moments are suspended forever and take up the majority of the book while others are just glossed over. I think the book would benefit from being longer and expanding some scenes while cutting out some of the time Alex spends with Jack. This was an entertaining and enjoyable read for me personally, and it made me excited to check out her other work, but there were enough flaws with the book for me to where I can't rate it above a 3/3.5.

Emma cline always does it for me. Great, nervewracking read. The protagonist was at times unbearable, but I couldn't not root for her. Finished it in a day.

Would things have been different if Alex had fessed up to crunching Simon's bumper? Possibly not given what else happens that day but now 22 year old Alex, who has been living with the much older Simon in the Hamptons for the summer, is out on her own with all of her possessions. Which isn't much. She's a grifter, a young woman who came from somewhere never specified to New York City and worked her way through men, taking money and drugs from them as she went until she met Simon. Oh and one of those men- Dom- is coming after her. Now, though, she's homeless and penniless and walking around and hanging on for Labor Day when she plans to infiltrate Simon's part- pretending to be a family friend, someone you knew, and so on to feed herself and sleep. She's completely unappealing in some ways and yet Cline makes you hope she'll survive. She's street smart, she loves to swim, and she's (oddly) good with kids if not good to herself. This has all the atmospheres of the Hamptons. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I found myself totally caught up in Alex and turning the pages.

Thank you to Random House for the arc in exchange for review!


After reading Cline’s other book I knew I had to pick up the Guest, this was a compelling read although with dark subject matter I couldn’t put it down. Alex is so interesting and morally grey and makes you want to hate and love her at the same time.