The Guest
by Emma Cline
Alex, who is 22, is a working girl with a graphic designer, social media strategy, and a foreboding sense that business is not doing well. In fact, she’s executing an exit strategy, living with a civilian investment manager with whom she gets along reasonably well. A mild argument, a bit of irritation, a dented bumper make her unwelcome in her boyfriend’s Long Island summer house, and his personal assistant is told to put Alex on the train back to the city.
Alex doesn’t want to go back to the city, where her roommates have surely changed the locks. She has $400 in the bank, and absolute confidence that this fight can be patched up at her boyfriend’s Labor Day party, just 5 days away. Can she stay amongst the dunes and daiquiris for five days?