The Guest is a difficult book to pin down. I wanted to love it, but ultimately found it lackluster- a steep departure from Cline’s highly celebrated novel, The Girls. The main character, Alex, is a vagabond and a parasite. Shifting from man to man, she tries to make it as a sugar baby, but she’s not especially talented at it. She manages to burn every bridge and uses people until she drains them dry.
The plot, a term which I use loosely here, goes like this: Alex is dating silver fox Simon, lazing the summer days away poolside in Long Island. But as Labor Day approaches, things hit a snag and Alex’s carefree vacation is cut short. Having no place to stay and little money to speak of, she begins couch-surfing whilst devising a plan to win Simon back.
The overarching feeling or image that The Guest conjures is existential angst and a yawning void of emptiness. It explores the transactional nature of relationships and time as a burden or obstacle to be overcome. We spend all our time with the unlikeable energy vampire Alex, but there is no backstory or psychological insight that would help explain her morally questionable behavior or allow the reader to sympathize with her.
While she happens to be a sugar baby- a career path that I find absolutely fascinating- this aspect of her life is barely expanded upon at all. What a missed opportunity! I also felt put off by the way the book abruptly ends without any resolution, begging the question- why did the author choose to write this particular story?
And yet, despite these qualms, I was still unwittingly entertained by The Guest, finishing it a mere 24 hours after picking it up. That rarely happens to me and it speaks to Cline’s hypnotic writing and ability to draw people in. While The Guest wasn’t what I was hoping for, I will still read anything this author writes. The potential was certainly there. It’s quite possible that I simply wasn’t the right reader for this book.
*A special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
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