3 stars.*

Years ago, I read The Girls by Emma Cline and was both a fan and confused by both her writing style and the plot. The Guest had an interesting premise and a completely unlikeable, disaster of a protagonist, who seems to just make her life worse and worse and then really really the worst.

The thing is...this book just ENDS. I get that there was no resolution so we would know that Alex just continues in her messy way. But really? Frustrating for me. I don't mind a terribly upsetting ending. I enjoy a happy ending (when it suits)....but no ending? Meh.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

An A24 movie in book form. Writing remains beautiful and artful. Minimal plot but the vibes are real. I remain an Emma Cline stan.

this would have been a 5 if the ending wasn't so ambiguous/loose. I prefer to have some sort of resolution with my books. Great use of characters off the page but at the same time it was difficult for me to care at all about Dom for example because we really just never got anymore information on him.
There were some incredible observations. I can tell Cline spent time in the Hamptons studying the people around her.
All and all this was a very fun read. Surprised this became the book of the summer because it was a little dark.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and Emma Cline for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I’m a big fan of The Girls and had high hopes for this one. It sadly wasn’t really for me at this time… I hope to pick it up again in the future though. I appreciate getting to read it early.

This was an interesting character study and there were parts that I really got into but, overall, I was underwhelmed. There was a big build-up to the ending and I was waiting for an amazing conclusion that just never happened.

What a stressful book! Alex is a young woman who's "the guest" of an older man at his home on the east end of Long Island. As the story begins, he's a very generous partner, bestowing expensive clothing and jewelry gifts, but summarily dismisses her one day with empty promises and a train ticket back to Manhattan. And the real stress begins!
Ms. Cline takes us into the world of the rich and famous and I loved her descriptive language. Alex is cringey and unlikable most of the time, but after the book ended, I still wanted to know what happened next for her. The book fell a little short for me without more of Alex's backstory, but it was overall a quick and compulsive read!
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read The Guest in exchange for an honest review.

Alex lives life on the edge - she's constantly fine tuning herself to appropriate to her current situation and person that she's around to better navigate herself through her days. She does have habits that can render this impossible and it gets her into a bit of trouble that means constantly wondering where she'll be able to go to next all the while attempting to avoid troubles from her past.

Alex is an expert at the rules of high society. She knows how to blend in to get what she needs. But at the end of the summer, she’s overstayed her welcome and must leave the home of the older man she’s been staying with. With no money, resources, or place to stay, Alex drifts from person to person, grasping for anyone she can tether herself to. We watch her navigate a society she’s only pretending to belong in as she begins to self-destruct.

Though the prose is compelling, I did not feel that Alex’s character was developed enough for me to care about the outcome. I did not need to like Alex as a character, but I did not know enough about her to feel more than apathy. The mood of the novel is strong—a building sense of chaos and stress—but there is very little plot, and there is not a real payoff at the end of the story. We wait for something cataclysmic to happen, but ultimately nothing does. The story was lacking the specificity that would have made it compelling for me.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks for the ARC Netgalley! Wow. This book has consumed my headspace for almost every waking hour since I finished it. I enjoyed chatting about it (especially the ending) with pals. This book is not for everyone and will be extremely polarizing, but its lasting impression on me cannot be construed as anything other than worth reading.

Alex is a 22 year old sex worker from NYC who has lucked into a magical summer with a much older man named Simon in the Hamptons. Alex is the arm candy he wants while she gets a life of luxury - that is, until she messes up and Simon is done with her. Alex has nowhere to go and is determined to stay afloat on Long Island until Simon’s Labor Day party - after all, it’s just 5 days away. The reader is along for the ride as Alex flits in and out of people’s lives when it’s convenient for her.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a more unlikeable MC. There is nothing redeeming about her at all and the way she treats human beings as being disposable causalities is appalling. My anxiety was so heightened with each poor decision Alex made, yet I couldn’t look away. It was like watching a car crash happen. The way Cline lets the tension build and build and BUILD is masterful. The ending is open to interpretation, which initially bothered me but now I’m kind of obsessed with talking about it. I did want a bit more from this though: more of a backstory from Alex and other characters’ pasts, which is what’s keeping me from rating it 5⭐️s.

If you liked the show “White Lotus” which was also filled with tension and consequences for the wealthy, I think you’ll find this one worth checking out.

✨Trigger Warnings: Drug Use, Adult/Minor Relationship, Sexual Assault, Mental Illness

Alex , a young woman with a troubled past, has been living with an older wealthy man for the summer. After several mishaps, the gentleman kindly tells her to go back to the city. Alex thinks she can survive on the island for just a week and then things will be better between them. She is the guest at several homes, beach parties and social clubs. Will she be able to make it back to the life she had or will she constantly be a guest. Thanks to Net galley for the advance e-book.

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me. I’ve read and enjoyed other Emma Cline books, but this one didn’t have much plot. It consisted of Alex grifting from various people while avoiding a confrontation with another man from who she stole money.
I felt sad for her. 2.5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

There was just something about Alex’s trainwreck of a life propelled me to keep reading. Like The Girls, The Guest is unique and intriguing and I just could not understand the MC but something about her made me interested in her story. This book was intelligent and unconventional. It's impossible to stop following her as she self-sabotages and tries to find a way out.

I loved this book so much!!! It was eerie, unsettling, funny, and anxiety inducing and I truly loved every minute of it. Something about spending time with someone in a story drifting from place to place, meeting and manipulating people and watching the trouble they get themselves into is so thrilling! The ending had my jaw on the floor, I barely blinked for the entire last chapter, not wanting to miss a thing - I actually re-read the last page a couple times to try to wrap my head around what the heck happened. Highly recommend and will add this to my favourites of the year! Thanks to the publisher for my gifted copies!

I was so excited to have been given a galley of an Emma Cline book so thank you to Net Galley and the publishers. This has been described as the summer book of the year. I enjoyed it, it felt smothering like the heat, I was anxious for our main character as she bounces from person to person. I still don’t know how I feel about the book as a whole but I’ve enjoyed others reviews and dissections.

Overall, I thought this story was very compelling and well-written, although some of the execution fell flat to me. Alex was a fun protagonist to follow, with her making some interesting decisions, but I found myself rooting from her despite her sometimes unlikability, which I think shows the author's master of her craft.

The plot was a bit aimless, although I definitely understand why, and while it sometimes felt like it it played into the plot, it for the most part made reading this book feel a bit like a chore.

I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending, but overall, I found this to be a chaotic read (but in a good way!)

3.5 stars rounded down.

Emma Cline is a genius of a writer, and page by page, line by line, this was an incredible book. But wow, it was hard to feel connected to the nihilistic narrator as she self-destructs - and burns down everyone around her - over the course of the book. It was like watching a slow-motion car crash where you know exactly what the outcome is going to be and that... was not very fun. Light on story, big on emotional carnage. Still, definitely worth reading.

Expected to enjoy this title, but found the plot and characters to be stressful, slow, and superficial.

So, sometimes you read a book and finish it more confused than satisfied. And sometimes that is ok as was my experience with Emma Cline's The Guest. Though set in the expensive playground of the one percenters (AKA The Hamptons), The Guest is the anti-beach read. In a good way.

Our protagonist is Alex, a 22-year-old sex worker who was shown the door by her latest rich boyfriend because of an unfortunate incident at a socialite's house. He has his assistant drive her to the train station to go back to The City, but bad things are awaiting her in the city. So she finds herself in survival mode in The Hamptons, inserting herself into the lives of rich people, adopting fake personas. She's observed the rich in their playgrounds and knows how to shape shift herself into being one of them.

Or so she thinks, as half of the book she is intoxicated on booze, pills, off brand coke, and whatever else. Is she Alice falling in the rabbit hole? Is she Odysseus on a voyage? Is she the dude traipsing around grocery stores in a robe, swigging from cartons of half and half?

I still don't know what I think of this book, but it kept my attention the entire time. Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

I have read all this authors work and I’ve come to believe that she’s just not for me. This was another story that just was creepy and did not hold my interest.

Having read and enjoyed The Girls, I can safely say that Emma Cline is now one of my favorite authors.

I found myself completely immersed in the narrative and always concerned for our main character, Alex, as she drifts and struggles to get through each day among the privileged. She latches onto a coping mechanism of always expecting a positive outcome even though every situation she lands herself in goes terribly wrong. I was entranced, anxious, always waiting for the worst.

Again, Emma Cline is truly a remarkable writer and I would highly recommend this novel.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.