The Guest, Emma Cline
‘The Guest burns with the intensity of sunburn and imminent disaster’
From the acclaimed author of The Girls and Daddy comes The Guest. Cast out by Simon, the older, wealthier man she is staying with on Long Island, after a misstep at a dinner party which fractures her calculated impersonation of a certain type of woman, Alex is told to go back to the city. But in the city, she owes a persistent Dom - an ex-boyfriend - a significant amount of money and she has no place to stay. Tittering on the edge, rootless, with no future plans and prospects of income, Alex decides to stay, hoping she can convince Simon to change his mind. She just has to get through 6 days until Labour Day; 6 days as an outsider adrift in a world she doesn’t belong to.
She makes her way around the island, passing uneasy, never-ending days as she tries to get by. She has a gift for navigating the desires of strangers, putting on guises to garner their affections, with collateral damage blazing behind her every step. Seduction - emotional and physical - is the currency she uses to hustle and survive. But Alex’s shadiness and falsities also keep her character at a distance from the reader. She is difficult to understand or connect to at times, and little about her is revealed.
The Guest burns with the intensity of sunburn and imminent disaster, keeping the atmosphere consistently tense. A sizzling and hazy summer read for sure, yet, I felt I wanted more from Alex.
Editorial Picks
