Welcome to Litsy!

Wednesday‘s book swap finds. I had a fire safety inspection on my apartment that was supposed to take up my morning but was over by 8am so I was straight out the door. Usually I have to take time off work to get it done but this one fell in the holidays.

I can‘t even with this book! I‘m not page 130-something and absolutely nothing is happening. I don‘t give one crap about the MC, Alex. There‘s no backstory and nary a hint about why she lives her life the way that she does. DNFing and moving on!

#bookspinbingo - this was my #bookspin for this month
#24in2024

These are my picks for this month! ☘️☘️☘️
#bookspinbingo #bookspin #doublespin

At heart, this is a book about the hustle from a morally ambivalent working girl trying to leave the life but it has some interesting subtext about classism and multiple plays on “staying afloat” that was clever. More interesting than pure hot girl problems would be on their own, anyway. #tob2024
Photo is of the Hamptons, which is where internet peoples say it is set, though I assumed Long Island? Lol. Less posh there, I guess.

A perfect one-day vacation read, but man is it stressful. Cline really leans in to the problematic, reckless and self destructive protagonist theme to the point that it‘s hard to watch, but impossible to look away. I loved the snarky take on the Hamptons - as a lifelong (admittedly, mostly seasonal) resident it‘s completely warranted and not far off the mark.

This is a very good book & a very distressing book. Alex is a young woman who survives on sex work and street smarts. Most of the novel she floats around the Hamptons, trying to avoid one guy, waiting for another guy's party. Homeless, penniless, friendless, she is the outsider who find ways inside, exposing the empty world of personal assistants, country clubs, lonely kids, uneven marriages, false friendships & unhappy families. Alex is 👇

Wooooow! I need so much more of Emma Cline‘s writing and characters and worlds. I loved The Girls so much that I picked up this book without reading the synopsis. I had so many feelings while I read this book. For sure pick

I think this might have been going for a Mulholland Drive kind of thing. A lot of hints are dropped about what was going on, but I'm not sure I like the MC enough to care. Something of a nihilistic commentary about wealth and privilege, about manipulation and being manipulated, about what happens to someone with no moral compass and no sense of identity. Interesting, I guess, but ultimately it leaves me feeling a little existentially drained.

First book finished this New Year. We only know Alex in her present life … She loves the water and swimming. She is in summer , on Long Island. Her past life can only have been madness, as is her present. She tested my patience and my understanding. But , it wasn‘t so much the mc or the story , it was the writing , how she told it , suspenseful insightful writing , I will read Emma Cline‘s The Girls now, and I will look out for her future books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5️⃣. Beautiful and words for the ugliness of humanity.

Reading this book is like watching a car crash happen in slow motion, you know what‘s coming and you know it‘s going to be horrible, but you can‘t stop yourself from watching it. Alex is that character you just can‘t stand. She‘s a grifter, manipulative, & calculative. This book is not for everyone, and you can‘t go into it looking for an easy read. It‘s intensely captivating yet tiring. But that Emma Cline, she can write.

I want my money back.

Started the audio of this but am ready to DNF. First, tho, I will skip and listen to the end. THEN make my decision. Seems like this is one that you can sample, read some positive reviews and some negative reviews, and feel like it was adequately sampled. GOOD ENOUGH.

Copper being startled by the vet cat.

I didn‘t get the job I was hoping for. #sigh 😔

I can see why others are not enjoying this. It is a meandering novel, 1 with a highly unlikable, and unreliable main character, there isn't much of a plot. Alex is in the Hampton's floating through life and leaving disaster in her wake.
I enjoyed this. The writing was a bit sparse, and you want to reach through the pages and shake Alex, but the book kept me engaged and thinking about scammers and frauds, how someone twists themselves to fit in.

This protagonist couldn‘t make a good decision to save her life. No one in the Hamptons or friends from the past know her story only minimal pieces. I understand the disappointment in the ending but I think it‘s masterful. All the pieces, all her threats and the results of her decisions come to a head and the ending didn‘t really matter as any one of them could have happened.

I have mixed feelings. I really liked it, but that ending was so disappointing. Did I miss something?

I do not understand the appeal of this novel. It is 300 pages of tension with only the barest semblance of plot. There is no backstory, no resolution of any kind, and no likable characters.

First book finished in October and for #Scarathlon!

I totally see why this was the “cool girl” book of the summer (I had it on hold from Libby for months, so I missed the zeitgeist), and why it‘s been so polarizing. This is a *vibes* book, and there‘s a certain creeping dread that overwhelms this slim novel. I have ambivalent feelings about the ambiguous ending, but overall it was a really interesting book with a complicated FMC at its center.

#SummerEndReadAThon #RushAThon

Finished earlier in the week, this book is a soft pick for me. I did not love it. The MC Alex is pretty unlikable & the ending drive me a bit crazy with its ambiguity. Still, the pacing & tension & feeling of foreboding kept me turning the pages & cringing as I did. A bit like seeing a train speeding down the tracks, out of control & you know it‘s not going to end well but you just can‘t manage to look away.🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This sucked me in every time I picked it up, but it also made me feel so anxious! It crawled under my skin like an unwanted guest (like the protagonist). Alex is a compelling character and the writing is razor sharp. I actually really liked the ambiguous ending and thought it worked well with this story. I‘m interested in reading different interpretations of what happened!

I enjoyed this, but I will admit I had anxiety reading it from her point of you and wondering her next moves. And that ending….I need to discuss it

We must discuss the ending.

Ok jumping on board for the “it book” of the summer. A young woman running out of options tries to scam her way to a better life in the Hamptons, not realizing that she will never really belong in that world even though she looks like she could. I enjoyed the voyeuristic element but it did make me very anxious about her complete inability to accept reality.

#TheGuest

Another entry for the Hot Girl Summer reading list.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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For 300 pages, Alex drifts from person to person on Long Island after being kicked out by the older man she‘s been living with. I kept reading hoping it would eventually become more than it was for me but sadly I felt like nothing really happened in the book at all really. I can see from looking on Goodreads there are quite a few 5 star and 4 star ratings so maybe its just one of those “not for me type of reads“ or I missed what was going on.

A compulsive suspense novel, I couldn‘t put this down. Tightly written, Emma cline gives wonderful (but minimal, carefully selected) details of life in the Hampton among the wealthy holiday-makers. Told from the point of view of Alex, who doesn‘t belong and is an unreliable narrator, gives it an edge. Cline has created a protagonist who is dishonest & unliveable but interesting: you care what happens to her. A great, stylish holiday read.

Alex drifts from home to home in the Hamptons plotting her next move.

Transient ✨ Leech ✨ Drifter

Enjoyed this more than I didn‘t, but the ending was still really lacking for me (if you‘ve read this, you may be saying what ending??) it‘s a consuming story based on nothing that I can pinpoint. We‘re told nothing about the main character and yet I still wanted to know what she‘d do next.

No story, just anxiety. No ending either, just more anxiety. Super well written tho, I enjoyed it overall. Double up on the lexapro and jump in

⭐️⭐️ Alex wanders around Long Island looking for marks. Just someone, or a few someones, to use / steal from for a few days until her ex sugar daddy‘s exclusive Labor Day party. She‘s manipulative, unlikable, and desperate. Emma Cline is undoubtedly a gifted writer, but this story is a total snooze fest. Pure pretension. Nothing interesting even happens. Zero self-reflection.

4⭐️/5⭐️

The MC is an absolute train wreck in progress. She's a hustler who uses pills and alcohol to keep herself in a state of mellow denial. Watching her going completely off the rails and causing chaos for everyone she interacts with was possibly my most uncomfortable reading experience so far this year, but it was also oddly compelling. The ending was unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, unresolved.

Not my usual fare, but I thought this might be a good summer read. It's certainly a suitable summer read, and it might even be good, but a hundred pages in I'm still not sure whether I actually like it. 🤔

So far the tension of seeing how Alex will grift her way into places to stay in this wealthy beach town is keeping me reading. Shades of The Talented Mr Ripley (sans murder) so far.

Bk15 of my #BookMail is a contemporary drama/thriller set on Long Island. Summer is ending & after a misstep at a dinner party, the older man she‘s staying with dumps her at the train station with a ticket back to the city. But with a gift for navigating people, Alex stays on the island, drifting through the gated estates of a rarified world, trailing destruction behind her. My first Emma Cline & looking forward to it.

I don‘t know that this book will appeal to everyone, but I loved it. Alex drifts like a ghost, grifting, lying, stealing her way through different lives. You know this won‘t end well, yet you can‘t look away. The prose style is what captivated me. It‘s short sentences, sparse language. You learn more from what the author isn‘t telling you. I kept thinking about this book after I‘d finished it.

I read most of this in a single sitting yesterday and was loving it for the most part. And then, that ending. 🙄 It felt like she just lost interest in the story and abruptly ended it. So frustrating and disappointing.

This weekend's read.

22 year old Alex floats through the lives of the wealthy on Long Island, longing for an end to summer, notably: Labor Day and her troubles. And her troubles are many though readers never get a glimpse of her past or what led her to such an unstable and haphazard life. Alex is running from some men and into the arms of others, never really secure or at ease in this effortlessly exclusive environment. She uses sex appeal as currency to make her way.

Started the audio of The Guest as I whipped up a tasty vegan lunch 🥢🍲

EmmaClines latest perfect weekend read for me.

I saw a tweet about the ending of the book that made me think I just completely read it wrong 🙃 Just wondering if anyone else who read it felt the same...? I'll share in the (spoiler) comment below.

First of Cline‘s I‘ve read. I really enjoy her writing. Somehow reminds me of Hemingway, with so much found in what is actually withheld from description.

Emma Cline has such a distinct voice. Fantastic read—couldn‘t put it down!

Holy fast shipping! #bookmail

This book is actively bad. Paper thin plot with a one-dimensional character. I typically enjoy an unlikable character when they inform the story or you come to understand why they are who they are. There‘s none of that here. This feels like a self-centered writer believing their own press and failing to deliver because they can.

I originally didn‘t plan on picking up Cline‘s newest because The Girls didn‘t do much for me, but I‘m really glad this came through on Libby‘s Skip-The-Line

Maybe it was the shorter timeframe, or the ripples of actions and consequences in real time- but It feels like what My Year of Rest and Relaxation wanted to be. If you can grab a copy definetly do

My tempered expectations panned out because my first-take opinion is that this is a masterpiece.

The prose is truly phenomenal. The plot is a fever dream. Alex doesn't care whether or not you like her. These characters are unique, but knowable, which makes me think that everyone else is missing something that this author sees. Or maybe I've just been around some messed-up people. Either way -- fascinating.

There was no reason to feel anxious--the fear had been transmuted, the way it often was, into excitement, the memory always dissolving until it was only the idea of fear, and when had the idea of fear even been a convincing deterrent?