Alex was a sort of inert piece of social furniture—only her presence was required, the general size and shape of a young woman. Anything beyond the fact of her sitting in her chair and nodding along was a distraction. Occasionally, Simon put his hand on the back of Alex’s neck, or patted her shoulder.
We meet Emma Cline’s Guest, Alex, a young girl at the start of this book, read for the Roman de Rochefort, living with Simon a rich middle aged man in a glorious seaside house and grounds with servants, Alex has no doubts about her importance to Simon as illustrated in the opening quote.
Alex we discover had found her boyfriend’s small time money from drug selling and had stolen and spent it, leaving him unable to pay his suppliers, and is now being searched for in town, we discover that she has no money and is hiding out with Simon, whilst looking the part:
Much better to have the buffer of an entirely different generation: the older men had no context for Alex, couldn’t even begin to inadvertently piece together any semblance of her real self.
Alex then, angry after her ex-boyfriend who manages to contact her whilst she and Simon are invited to the house of one of Simons friends, manages to upset Simon and is asked to leave his house the next day. Unable to go back to the city, Alex persuades herself that if she can survive for a week in this holiday town, with no money, until Labour Day she will be able to turn up at a party Simon is holding and he will just take her back. We then follow her from night to night as she finds different ways to survive.
Alex is a survivor, but only just, the reader feels anxious for her, she is clearly on the precipice. The reader feels the true danger behind some of the situations she finds herself in, heightened by her insouciance.
First published in English by Chatto & Windus in 2023 as ‘The Guest’
Translated into French by Jean Esch and published by Table Ronde in 2023
The quotes in French
Alex représentait une sorte de meuble social inerte: seule sa présence était requise, aux dimensions et aux formes d’une jeune femme. Rester assise sur sa chaise et hocher la tête était tout ce qu’on lui demandait. De temps à autre, Simon posait sa main sur la nuque d’Alex ou lui tapotait l’épaule.
Mieux valait la mise à distance d’une génération– les hommes âgés manquaient de contexte concernant Alex, ils étaient incapables de reconstituer une image de ce qu’elle était, quand bien même ils auraient essayé.
South of Paris books 