'The Guest' by Emma Cline follow Alex, a woman in her 20's who uses her good looks and sexuality to make her way in the world. Following a faux pas at a party, her older rich lover dismisses her, and rather than leaving the privileged world in which she's found herself, she continues to circulate around the area, taking on different persona's to enable her to be a guest in other people's lives.

Cline is excellent at creating a unique female voice. She also cleverly conjures up the privilege, opulence and selfishness of the people's lives Alex gatecrashes. However, I have to admit that this genre of fiction - 'young self destructive women' isn't my favourite, due to me finding it so sad. As a result this read wasn't a relaxing one for me, but I am sure there are many that would enjoy it.

The ghost of Emma Cline’s The Girls haunts this novel, in the sense that it is about a drifting, lost young woman trying to survive in a hostile world of men. The Guest, however, never quite gets to a really interesting place. If someone told me that this had been written before The Girls I wouldn’t be surprised as it explores similar themes in a less developed way. I did enjoy the book, (Cline’s prose style is very good), it just felt a bit like an extended short story and I wanted more.

3.5 stars
I've heard a lot of great things about Emma Cline's books but this didn't quite work for me.
First of all, is anyone meant to be able to relate to Alex? I really struggled to and she was incredibly unlikeable.
I was expecting some kind of twist at some point but ultimately that didn't happen.
Not everything was resolved for me either, when it came to the ending, which was frustrating.
I did like the writing style and I'm still intrigued to go back and read some of Emma's other books. But this one was just okay.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Guest
by Emma Cline

Alex is 22 year old woman who subsists on the generosity of others who fall for her guiles, until she outstays her welcome. The story opens with her having landed an older man who is happy to indulge her, offering her a luxurious summer among the elite of Long Island.

We soon come to understand that although Alex prides herself on her wily ability to charm the birds from the trees, she is impetuous and unpredicatable and makes some truly awful decisions.

When a stupid mistake finds her out on her ear she discovers that she has burned too many bridges to return to the city and decides to drift for a week waiting for her sugar daddy to come around. What lengths is she going to go to?

I didn't think I was going to be able to relate to this shallow, mercenary, exploitative girl who was essentially a prostitute, and I felt reviled for her brazenness and willingness to prey on just about anyone, yet at times I was almost having panic attacks over the situations she found acceptable. How did Emma Cline do that? Get me to find myself drawn to Alex's own vulnerability?

This can only end one way. The final chapter is masterful and breath-taking. It's not easy to encounter people we would sooner judge in our reading, but in this case it is strangely compelling.

This would make an excellent beach read, especially if you are noticing the wealth older men with their arm candy.

Publication date: 18th May 2023
Thanks to #NetGalley and #randomhouseuk for the egalley

I have mixed feelings about this novel. I did love Emma Cline's prose but I just didn't love the story itself. It felt bitty, with a string of characters that, looking back, I could maybe recall 2 or 3 of them! I really hoped for a twist, it's what kept me reading (as well as the writing) but SPOILER ALERT it just didn't come. Perhaps I started the novel with preconceived ideas & expectations. I'm sure there will be many who love The Guest, sadly it wasn't the standout novel I'd hoped it would be.

Since her first huge success with The Girls, Cline has carved a niche relating tales of rootless and disaffected young women and her knife becomes ever sharper with each iteration. The Guest is served up with the requisite splinter of ice at its deliciously cool centre. No one comes out well and that is very much the point.

I really liked Cline's previous book The Girls so was keen to read this new one. The MC, Alex, is a grifter who drifts from place to place, person to person, but her luck is running out. Now she has no plan and is stumbling through summer in Long Island. The setting was conveyed beautifully and Alex was well written but I found the pace a little too slow and the ending didn't quite work for me. (Copy received via Netgalley in return for an honest review)

An enjoyable novel about a not very nice main character and her methods of survival. I was slightly disappointed by the ending, but it was definitely a page turner.
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book

Thanks to netgalley for an advanced copy. Having enjoyed Emma Cline's books before I was excited to read this. Undoubtedly the style is competent and the central character, is incredibly well crafted. However, the conclusion of the narrative didn't work for me. I was hoping for a more dramatic pay off after the slow bubbling tensions which underpins the story.

I adored Emma Cline’s ‘The Girls’, so was keen to read her new novel, and it didn’t disappoint.
The key question it raises is: is Alex a manipulative sociopath or a resourceful adventurer/ess, a young woman who becomes a serial call girl-girlfriend and makes expedient choices in order to survive? At times, my heart was in my mouth. Who would win out: good Alex or bad Alex?
With shade of Patricia Highsmith’s ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’, Alex insinuates herself into America’s wealthy east coast community on Long Island, sheltered from the world around them and, therefore, ripe for her to plunder.
The author’s observational skills are sharply honed: a young man is “tanned to the colour of expensive leather”; her boyfriend’s daughter has “the dark glossy hair of the wealthy”; people casually leave their shoes on the beach, knowing no one will take them. Alex’s goal is to blend in, a deferential quasi Girl Scout, disarming suspicious older women and offering “cheerful and frictionless obedience” to the man funding her summer.
She is painfully aware of her waning charm and falling value on the sex market, and her vulnerability to men who take advantage physically and financially. Her life could not be more precarious, while Mr Micawber-ish, she believes something will turn up. Meanwhile, the heat beats down during a pivotal week, blurring Alex’s vision, literally and metaphorically. Alex is self-deluded in many ways. Her relationship with the truth is so weak as to be non-existent: lying is simply giving people what they want.
The whole story moves along a knife-edge and it’s not a relaxing read! Will Alex, so fond of the water, sink or swim? As she increasingly self-sabotages, and ups her painkiller dosage, the accidents to property – a car, a painting – a transgression at a party seem too frequent to be pure mistakes. Alex has the self-destruct gene and leaves chaos in her wake.
As Alex’s dwindling options fascinate the reader (it’s a car-crash of a read), this brilliantly taut psychological thriller ends on an ambiguous note.
I will be more than happy to post on Amazon, when reviewing opens.

This is a bit of a strange story about Alex, who is best described as a “hanger on”. Living the good life as the trophy girlfriend of an older man, she finds herself with nowhere to live or get back to when she is thrown out of his holiday home. Convinced she can win him back at a party he is going to be hosting, she drifts from group to group by spotting people she can befriend and who can provide her with food and shelter until her victorious return. Alex is an extremely unpleasant and manipulative character. References to “ticks” and a stray dog who just turns up and then disappears are probably not coincidental. Although I struggled to empathise with Alex, the story is strangely compelling and you do want to keep reading to see how things turn out.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

"But maybe some things could never be erased. Maybe they tinted some cellular level of your experience, and even if you scraped away whatever part was on the surface, the rot had already gotten beneath."

I mulled over this book for days before attempting a review. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I read, and admired, Emma Cline's luminous first novel, 'The Girls' so I was excited to be approved by NetGalley to read her second.

Alex is a 23-year-old woman who literally sponges off people, mostly men. She has no job and we're not told where she's from. She doesn't appear to have a tertiary education. Instead, she arrived in New York hoping to attach herself to someone rich, who'll look after her. She manages to flit from man to man, leeching off them, often taking things just a little too far (she sometimes steals cash, a bit of jewellery here and there).

When the novel opens, Alex is living in a holiday home on Long Island, somewhere akin to the Hamptons. Her current beau is a much older man named Simon. Things are going well with him – she might even like him. Alex is on the run from a menacing previous boyfriend (if we can call the men she dates that) named Dom, from whom she stole a substantial amount of money. But she feels safe with Simon, insulated. Simon is preparing for his annual Labor Day party a week away.

Then, Alex makes a mistake, and Simon kicks her out. With nowhere to go (she's used and abused pretty much everyone on her contact list), Alex tells herself Simon will forgive her, and all she needs to do is wait it out until the party when she'll show up and he'll welcome her back. The problem is where does she hide out until then?

Alex is a hot mess, and extremely unlikeable. I kind of wanted her to be saved, but I also felt like she deserved a bit of a comeuppance. She is a real freeloader and has no personality of her own – she simply projects the persona she thinks men will like in order for them to take care of her. She's always a guest, someone who has to step carefully in order to keep the facade going.

Emma Cline's writing is excellent – stark, to the point and yet, slightly dreamy. I struggled to rate this book, however. I kept moving between three and four stars. If there were half-stars on Goodreads I would probably have given it a 3.5. I just really struggled with Alex as a character. I think she's supposed to be distasteful to the reader but the fact that there is no real resolution also puzzled me. It's kind of brilliant but also really frustrating.

The Guest is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Guest asap.

I loved The Girls so was expecting great things from The Guest. Not disappointed at all. Alex is definitely not someone I could relate to but I couldn’t help admiring her strength of will and ability to survive on her wits alone. Edgy and elusive, a novel to keep you gripped and make you think.

The Guest was an interesting read. I’d previously enjoyed The Girls by Emma Cline and her ability to capture mood and atmosphere so well is strongly present in The Guest too. It makes for immersive reading as you really are cemented in lead character Alex’s reality.

The Guest is a sharp, concise look at a woman who is lost in life. The heady atmosphere with a thrum of tension is a character in its own right really. The story takes place over a week so the events feel real time and Emma Cline’s clever writing make it feel both fast and slow paced.

It is written in 3rd person to add to the air of disassociation that is key to understanding Alex. She is a 22 year old woman who essentially thieves and uses men to her own gain.

I realise that description doesn’t set her up as the most likeable sounding character but it’s the way her vulnerability and yearning are laid out for us to see that makes her highly readable.

When we meet her, she’s in LA with Simon – an older, rich man she’s staying with for the summer. She flexes to Simon’s every whim, very aware she needs to please him to keep enjoying his luxury house and lifestyle.

When Simon ends the relationship, Alex decides he doesn’t mean it and plans to surprise him at his annual Labor Day party a week later.

With little money, she has to be inventive about where she stays for the week, using her wit and street smarts to keep afloat.

I ended up feeling sorry for Alex. We’re not given a huge amount of back story, so it’s not laid out for us why she finds herself in this position, doing dubious things to survive.

She’d been almost jealous of the people she’d known in the city who’d totally cracked up, spiraled into some other realm. It was a relief to have the option to fully peace out of reality.

I left The Guest feeling slightly sad and worried for Alex. In the way that you sort of worry about people if they are on a path in life that won’t satisfy them in the long run or if you haven’t heard things are now OK for them.

Alex makes lots of questionable decisions but I did emotionally connect with her, which is what makes this book memorable. Along with the deliciously ambiguous ending leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions.

I loved the sound of this book - I was especially drawn to the idea of a young woman grifting her way around glamorous Long Island during a hot summer (given that I'm living a chilly and distinctly non-glamorous British springtime!) Thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The book follows Alex, a young woman existing on her wits, as she scams her way through the luxurious homes and lives of those holidaying on Long Island. Having been asked to leave by her first host (an older man that she was using as a meal ticket), Alex is determined not to return to the city - and the unfortunate mess she left there. Instead, she takes advantage of whoever is willing to help her as she tries to keep one step ahead of her past.

The setting of the novel is glorious - we are taken inside some of Long Island's most opulent houses and see the lifestyles of the wealthy. As it's holiday season and super sunny in this playground of the rich and famous, there is a kind of laid-back, languorous, hazy feeling to the novel which is captured beautifully in Cline's writing. At the same time, there is a kind of underlying sense of tension as Alex treads a fine line between having the summer of her life...and being found out to be someone who is flexible with the truth and prone to helping herself to other people's belongings.

I did find the book a compelling read - even though I found the character of Alex to be strangely cold. I'm not sure the reader is ever really given much to like about Alex, although there are plenty of reasons to admire her chutzpah in a kind of half-fascinated, half-horrified way. Alex's casual manipulation of people was shocking and I found her detached disregard for the child's safety particularly uncomfortable. However, I liked the insights into the people that Alex interacted with - especially the way that wealth didn't make them immune from their own problems.

The structure of the book was quite episodic as Alex worked her way through different days and 'hosts' on the island. While clever as a concept, it didn't quite hold together as a complete novel for me, especially as the ending did not fully resolve everything I wanted.

I'd recommend this to those who enjoy books packed with underlying tension, interesting characters and engaging settings. While it didn't quite hit the mark for me all the way through, there's lots to enjoy in this unusual and intriguing novel.

Book was well written and interesting, but not my favourite new book.
Quite dark topics and sad at times but it was refreshing to read

‘The Guest’ by Emma Cline is really easy to read. It sits in that sweet spot between an addictive novel that you hate to put down, and a novel that you just pick up casually. Throughout reading - even if I wasn’t desperate to get back to it - when I picked it up, I was surprised each time with a tingle of excitement and a thrill to remember how much I actually enjoyed reading this novel.

Our protagonist, Alex, exists in a kind of insipid spiritlessness. Everything Cline shows us is seen through the eyes of this prescription-drug addict who is (every day of the single week in which we follow her) under the influence of one, or, more likely, a bevy of, intoxicants. For this reason – even though Cline writes in third person and not the first – I’m baffled at readers who have taken against ‘The Guest’ because it is unrealistic.

Alex’s chamber of existence is a remote bubble of unreality. Right through the novel, things aren't quite right. Alex is listless, lethargic, lackadaisical; her interactions with others are characterised by a kind of suspect indolence. Everything in Alex’s experience is muggy and slightly nauseating. What she wears and touches, her appearance, her person, is smeary and soiled. Nothing is quite right.

And so, in my view, the novel isn’t intended to be 'aspirational', as some reviews assert, and nor do I see Cline having it in mind as a coming-of-age story, as others have labelled it. Reviews seem variously to have derided it for all of the aforementioned. But there’s no pathos in ‘The Guest’; none of our characters are at all sympathetic.

And this is just one of the numerous traps Cline sets for her readers, to encourage us to interrogate the text. Others being what some reviews have called the novel's lack of plot or substance. I think to invest in 'The Guest' is to surrender to its buzzy, unworldly timelessness. I mean, come on: THAT ENDING! What can I say about it? I would urge all the novel's detractors, or those readers who felt apathetic, I would urge them to go back and read that ending again. Not just to read it as an ending, but to rewind from there, turning pages backwards until you can - beyond reasonable doubt - identify the moment when the ending BEGINS. Can you?

Ultimately, was I rooting deeply for Alex? I honestly couldn’t say. What kept me reading? I don't exactly know. But reaching that ending, and recasting the entire novel in its light? That was the payoff for me.

My thanks to Emma Cline, to Random House UK, and NetGalley, for an eARC.

Alex is in her early 20s and set on living the kind of life she’s aspired to, or perhaps it’s the kind of life she feels deserving of. Her boyfriend is in his 50s and rich, with places in the city and by the beach. He’s pretty cold and also controlling too, but Alex doesn’t really care – it seems she’s never felt love and maybe isn’t even looking for it. Material things are good – nice clothes and jewellery – access to drugs works too, but nothing too hardcore. Yes, her life is pretty well set up right now. But then she’s prone to making mistakes and bad decisions. Very quickly she’s been rejected, she’s out on her ear!

We’d already glimpsed her past and it’s full of problems, not least the fact that a man she had a short acquaintance with (you wouldn’t call him a boyfriend) is chasing after her for things she stole from him. Now she’s in trouble, real trouble. She’s going to have to connive and persuade and lie her way out of it; it’s what she does, it’s who she is. It’s hard to find much to like about Alex. She’s self-centred, dishonest, parasitic and uncaring. She won’t mind hurting others to get what she needs, Alex is a user and she’s pretty good at it.

I’d enjoyed the author’s earlier books: a novel based loosely on the Charles Manson group and a collection of short stories. Cline writes really well and although some of her characters are unappealing, she has a way of making the reader interested in them even if they have little sympathy for their problems or their failures. Here, I think the fate of Alex is pretty clear from the outset and yet I couldn’t help getting caught up in her ever more desperate attempts to create a solution by utilising her wits, her body and her grasping selfishness in an attempt to take advantage of everyone she stumbles across. It’s all pretty heartless and yet it’s also strangely compelling.

Thanks very much to Netgalley and Vintage for the opportunity to read this book.

I was a big fan of The Girls and was delighted to see this. The writing is, as expected, compelling and engrossing, and even if Alex isn't the most likeable of characters you do empathise with her.

Anyone who has read her short fiction or enjoyed The Girls should definitely pick this book up.