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A review by nancyflanagan
The Guest by Emma Cline
2.0
I read "The Girls" by Cline and hated it--it was a slow-moving, greasy, repellant story based on Charles Manson and his harem of buzzed-out, shallow women. I decided not to read any more of her books.
Then--I read that a famous (not to be named) magazine had made "The Guest" its summer beach read. So I gave Cline another try--and YUCK. I really did not like this book. Yes, it's depressing--but a sad / slow book about unattractive subject matter can be deeply moving. This book was not deeply moving.
What it was: boring. The entire plot is revealed in the first chapter or so, and the action goes nowhere, start to finish. There's a certain amount of tension--where will the lead character, Alex, sleep? How will she eat? Will all her deceptions and thefts lead to her getting caught? All of these would be interesting, if we cared about Alex. But we don't. At least I didn't.
The book is seriously overwritten, repetitive, slow moving, filled with awful, flawed people at all socio-economic levels. And the ending sucks.
Cline can write (two stars for that), but the whole premise and execution of the book? Yuck.
Then--I read that a famous (not to be named) magazine had made "The Guest" its summer beach read. So I gave Cline another try--and YUCK. I really did not like this book. Yes, it's depressing--but a sad / slow book about unattractive subject matter can be deeply moving. This book was not deeply moving.
What it was: boring. The entire plot is revealed in the first chapter or so, and the action goes nowhere, start to finish. There's a certain amount of tension--where will the lead character, Alex, sleep? How will she eat? Will all her deceptions and thefts lead to her getting caught? All of these would be interesting, if we cared about Alex. But we don't. At least I didn't.
The book is seriously overwritten, repetitive, slow moving, filled with awful, flawed people at all socio-economic levels. And the ending sucks.
Cline can write (two stars for that), but the whole premise and execution of the book? Yuck.