From starting this novel, I was hooked! I just wanted to see in what situation was Alex was going to end up in and wow. This book has made me feel uncomfortable and stressed for Alex, the protagonist who always end up putting herself in the weirdest situation, I kind of always felt a bit on edge because I didn’t want her to make a fool of herself. She’s in denial as she is just out of a relationship and think she’s still in. She is quite manipulative but somehow so desperate and in denial that it is hard to know how to feel about her.
After reading Emma Cline’s novel “The girls” I knew I wanted to read “The guest” and it does not disappoint!
I would recommend this novel for sure!
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for letting me read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Alex is a troubled young woman who has had to find her own path through a pretty seedy life, drifting from one house, one relationship to the next and trying to fit herself to her host's desires. Its an interesting tale, not always an easy read but well worth taking the time to sit with it and join Alex on her journey.

Insightful and lacerating exploration of wealth, freedom and dependency, seen through the eyes of the thoroughly unlikeable main protagonist, Alex.

Alex has a shady past and a knack of exploiting other people to her own advantage, mostly by using her looks and sexuality.

Although you don’t like her, she is more likeable than the rich people she tries to leech off, and their loyal staff, who are spending summer out of the city in a rich person’s flawed paradise.

Most of the book provoked in me feelings of disgust and despair, but it also kept me fascinated enough to keep reading. What a time to be alive.

I spent a lot of the book trying to decide if I liked Alex or not, A great story keeping you on the edge and never really answering a lot of questions.

I read this really quickly, and I did enjoy it, but the mysterious protagonist Alex was just a little too elusive as she swanned around a wealthy coastal town in America. I needed a tiny bit of context, just a little bit to go on, about what her background was, why she was on the run, why she didn’t go home to the city when Simon dumps her. I’m just not sure we find out enough about her for some of the things she does to make sense, particularly the vandalism of art in a friend of Simon’s house. Another review called the ending anticlimactic and that hits the nail on the head for me: there was no showdown, no reckoning, and no real idea of what her ex-partner or even Dom, the man on the hunt for her, thought of her or wanted from her.

Alex is the twentysomething girlfriend of an older wealthy businessman, enjoying the summer in a rich neighbourhood of Long Island. Following a faux pas, she is banished from the estate for a few days until the Labor Day party on Sunday. But Alex has burned too many bridges and can’t go back to the city - where someone she stole a lot of money from is trying to find out where she is. So she decides to hang around Long Island for the rest of the week, homeless, and attempts to get by, as she always does, on her looks.

The premise seemed potentially intriguing - maybe this is a commentary on the unsustainable way the wealthy elite live, or the strange relationships of modern life, or simply seeing someone who coasts through life having to deal with adversity for a change - but The Guest turned out to be the most tedious novel about nothing instead.

It doesn’t help that Alex is a douchebag of a main character, blindly stumbling through life wrecking other people’s because she’s such an inconsiderate moron, or that none of the other characters are much better either, so it’s not fun spending time with anyone here. Even basic things like establishing characters seems beyond the abilities of Emma Cline. It’s not really clear who Alex is - is she some kind of professional gold digger, or an escort, or… what?

But the narrative is also severely lacking in anything interesting happening. I’m wracking my memory to recall what happened in the novel besides Alex dossing about for several days but nothing’s turning up. And when she does do something - like crashing a car - there aren’t any real consequences. Any conflict, like needing a place to stay for the night, are more or less instantly and conveniently overcome with little to no effort. The guy she owes money to only ever texts her so that possible avenue of drama is a total deadend. Nothing more exciting than a tension-free narrative!

Cline’s prose was ordinary, the main character and narrative were both unbelievably vapid, and I was thoroughly bored every step of the way through this instantly-forgettable novel. Maybe Cline’s previous novel The Girls is good but I didn’t see anything special in The Guest to suggest it’s worth even considering picking up. This garbage book is one guest I definitely wouldn’t recommend inviting into your home!

Alex is a grifter, a chancer and if necessary, a thief who becomes an unwelcome roommate, when she owes too much back rent. Thankfully, Simon saves the day by inviting her to be a guest at his Long Island property for the whole of August. She has to keep up the appearance of being self-sufficient, but what happens to her in September?? She can’t let Simon see or sense her desperation, she also can’t tell him that Dom is pursuing her – he doesn’t need to know that! Alex has a good thing going here, though she has to endure a lot of dullness. So, don’t mess it up Alex, which of course she does. Simon gets her a train ticket back to the city but Alex decides to stay on Long Island by utilising her wits. The clock ticks down for six days to the Labor Day party at Simon‘s house. All will be forgiven then, won’t it?

The novel is told in the third person from the perspective of Alex, which I like, as it’s somewhat impersonal and allows you to do to view her actions dispassionately. Alex is a user, a taker, she is selfish, unlikeable and at times, utterly despicable and definitely immoral, but she’s never dull . She occasionally feels remorse and dread but ultimately she’s a survivor and will do whatever it takes. Her character development is very good as are most of the others who are definitely drawn, even those who only briefly grace the pages. I really like the tone the author creates, which is hazy, dreamlike, ghostly, as if you’re trying to look through opaque glass, it’s alcohol and drug fuelled and at times, this makes it hard to get a grasp on reality as Alex drifts around the island. There are moments of tension as the days countdown to the party.

However, despite the many positives, it’s all pretty much the same throughout as Alex negotiates the way to Labor Day. As for the ending, it’s very ambiguous and you left to make up your own mind, which I can’t decide if I like or not?!

Overall though the quality of the writing is excellent, even if Alex herself is hard to like.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Vintage for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Whilst I ramble incoherently here, I have to add that I’m really unsure how a written review will do this book justice. Please just trust me when I say – THIS IS A MUST READ.

I really enjoyed this novel, which does an excellent job of conveying the desperation of the protagonist, Alice, and the last days of summer in an upscale Hamptons community. It's not always a relaxing read as a result of that but I really liked Alex as a character (though you definitely wouldn't want to bump into her in real life) and I was willing her on to success despite the insanity of her plan. Highly recommend as a great summer read, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Alex is a drifter, a permanent guest in other people's lives. She lives a dangerous, hand-to-mouth existence, moving from place to place, using people to get what she needs, sometimes stealing small amounts, always on the lookout for the next opportunity, the next free beer or ice cream or the next place to charge her phone. She is socially adept, skilled at assimilating herself within a party before anyone realises they don't actually know who she is.
Although let down by an overly abrupt ending, this is a compelling read from Emma Cline, the author of the excellent The Girls.

This book started off really well, with a slow burn. I really disliked the main character of Alex, but yet I still found myself engaged with the story and wanting to understand more about her. This being written in the third person meant Alex was even more mysterious, and I thought that was an interesting choice. However, I felt that it lacked substance and kept waiting for something more to reveal itself. The ending was so abrupt, and tied up no loose ends.
It was interesting, but ultimately really anticlimactic and just felt a bit pointless. Yet at the same time, the author is clearly talented to be able to have kept me engaged through the whole book. So overall, I feel conflicted.

Alex lives her life taking what she can from people, most lately Simon, a wealthy older man. However, Simon dismisses her from his life, leaving her with just a bag containing all her worldly goods. Trying to find somewhere to stay each night as well as avoiding someone from her past to whom she owes a lot of money, life is proving a challenge. All Alex needs to do is to get to Simon’s annual party, and her life can return to normal, surely? A dark and original read.

<i>Was everything rising up from the place she thought it was hidden? No, she told herself, no. Everything was fine.</i>

3 1/2 stars. This was good! Very entertaining, quick, fast, fun read. I love unhinged fucked up narrators. Strong 'White Lotus' vibes. I liked the lack of backstory/explanation for Alex' motives. I think the ending could have been a lot more extreme/weirder - I wish it had gone more into the vein of Cheever's "Swimmer," really leaning into the idea of Alex being/becoming a ghost (as she is often described throughout the book) - though I can get why the author/publisher didn't want to do that. I also thought she could have been a lot more weirder/meaner - more colder and calculated like Tom Ripley - though again what with readers whining about not 'liking' a character I can understand the hesitancy to do this. I loved the whole sequence with the kid by the pool, though again this is a moment that I think would have been stronger with more coldness/psychosis. Overall, great beach/airplane read, that's also arguably substantial in terms of exploring the power of young women (think Anna Delvey). Interesting exploration of sex, youth, and power. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

<i>That's what they all wanted, wasn't it? To see, in the face of another, pure acceptance. Simple, really, but still rare enough that people didn't get it from their partners, had to seek it out from someone like Alex.

A vodka soda. It had an ascetic taste, like water gone sick. All the girls ordered this, the drink of the female martyr.

The air was too domestic, dripping with the proximity of family and other blunt moral concepts. It had a chilling effect: the wives nearby, the children.

Alex had the sick sense that she was a ghost. Wandering the land of the living. But that was dumb, a dumb thought.

"Why are you like this?" he said. And he was really asking. Expecting some explanation, some logical equation--x had happened to her, some terrible thing, and so now y was her life, and of course that made sense. But how could Alex explain--there wasn't any reason, there had never been any terrible thing. It had all been ordinary.

Only her presence was required, the general size and shape of a young woman. Anything beyond the fact of her sitting in her chair and nodding along was a distraction.

Wasn't it better to give people what they wanted? A conversation performed as a smooth transaction--a silky back-and-forth without the interruption of reality. Most everyone preferred the story.

That was the point of Alex--to offer up no friction whatsoever.</i>

I enjoyed The Girls, though perhaps not as much as others - but, the pitch for Emma Cline's latest had me hooked from the off. I loved her hypnotic writing and wry observations turned to this particular world - I can't wait to see what she writes next.

Alex spends the summer with a much older man, Simon, offering her company in return for clothes, designer bags and a free place to stay. After a misstep Simon dismisses her with a ticket back to the city. Using her grift and ability to manipulate others, Alex stays on the island. She drifts through the island, binding her time until Simon's Labor Day party where he hopes to win him back..

I loved Emma Cline's debut novel, The Girls, unfortunately The Guest didn't work for me. Emma's writing is beautiful and her characters are so well observed, and the narrative has a hypnotic feel to it. However, I found Alex an incredibly flat character, I love flawed character, but I expect them to go through an arc for the better or the worse, but here Alex stays stagnant. The story felt like a short story that has been stretched out into a novel.

Beautifully written and very hypnotic, but sadly not for me.

I really enjoyed this whipsmart, stylish, summer thriller from the queen of such novels. The Guest is propulsive, intriguing and extremely clever. I devoured it.

I requested this book on NetGalley mainly because it is blurbed by Daisy Johnson, Rachel Kushner and, to a lesser degree for my tastes, Brandon Taylor. It is also, although this isn’t why I requested it, on the “Harper’s Bazaar Best New Fiction Books in 2023” list. My thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC.

It’s the story of a short period in the life of Alex. Alex is a young woman who makes her way through life by attaching herself to a wealthy man and living off his support for as long as she can make it last. Then she drifts until she finds another one. She’s not averse to stealing from the men (or the shops, or hotel rooms, or…) and has a problem with tablets. Well, “problem” is obviously my interpretation: I don’t think Alex is worried about judging by the number she indiscriminately takes.

When we join the story, she is attached to Simon. But, as the blurb tells us, she makes a mistake and Simon tells her to leave. He tells her to go back to the city but, for reasons explained in the book, she decides to stay on the island and wait for an event planned six days later. The majority of the book is the story of those six days during which Alex drifts from situation to situation causing a bit of havoc and disruption. Then the planned event happens and the book ends.

I have seen some of the early reviews of the book. A lot of them praise the writing and are disappointed at the ending. I am a bit the other way round. I found the book mostly rather dull but the ending is the most interesting part. Clearly I am not going to say anything about it except that it is simultaneously frustrating, confusing and interesting, which is quite a combination to pull off.

The other thing a couple of the reviews I have seen mention is that the episodes seem a bit repetitive. My feeling is that the ending shows why. There’s a repeating motif of a wild deer which also, I think, plays into the ending.

So, whilst I understand those reviewers who found the ending a bit disappointing, I do think it is actually the best bit of the book. I didn’t really like the rest of the book that much.

Just 2 stars from me (2.5 rounded down), sadly, although I did find the ending boosted the book a bit.

4 5*

This was an absolutely gripping, compelling and almost hypnotic read. I love books with complicated main characters, with messy protagonists, caught up in their disasters. And wow, Alex here was the messiest and I couldn't stop reading her narration.

There were so many moments when I almost read between my fingers out of fear of what was happening, moments when I was yelling at her, while at others (maybe even most of the time) I just wanted someone yo take care of her.

The use of an unreliable narrator and the vagueness of the narration when it came to the past was also very effective for me, adding to the edge of nerves and dread that permeated the text.

This hit me hard, and I am stuck thinking about it for days afterwards. Highly recommended.


*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC*

I really disliked the main character which I know we’re supposed to. Writing is good enough to make you want to come back

Wow a gripping read…. Intelligent, thought-provoking and always, always interesting…..
This author writes with warmth and engaging perception about our relationship and understanding…..