book review: The Guest by Emma Cline

The Guest by Emma Cline Overview: Alex leads a chaotic life. She takes it one day at a time, navigating each hurdle hour by hour as they all pile up on one another. At twenty-two, she's made her way from New York City to the Hamptons for the summer, schmoozing with older rich men to get by, floating somewhere between being an escort and a sugar baby. How Alex arrived at this point is never revealed, but for a week, we follow her through the Hamptons as she scrapes by as an ephemeral guest in various sad, rich Hamptons houses. Can she untangle the web by Labor Day to set her life back on course? Overall: 3.5 Characters: 3 Alex is both fascinating and utterly flat. On a scene by scene, moment by moment level, Alex is a fascinating character to follow. She's developed her own moral code, and she runs on a series of survival rules that help her slip between the cracks as she takes advantage of others under the radar. She's manipulative but not without having a conscience, and...