The Houseguest

by Thomas Berger

Chuck Burgoyne is no ordinary houseguest. The Graveses (father Doug; wife Audrey; son Bobby; and daughter-in-law Lydia) have gotten used to his polite manners and gourmet breakfasts. But one morning at the Graveses' summer home, Chuck fails to appear.

When Chuck finally does surface, he is no longer sweet and charming, but rather has become aggressive and arrogant, abusing each family member in turn. Each family member that is, except the fellow outsider, Lydia. Once Chuck rescues her from the dangerous undertow of the ocean, Lydia can't help but feel obligated to him, even after his uninvited advances to her while she's half asleep. Slowly it becomes apparent to the family that Chuck isn't anyone's guest but rather a perfect stranger who wormed his way into their home. Yet the Graveses are so concerned with not offending him by being impolite that they willingly accept the abuse he freely dishes out. In private, however, they all scheme for his undoing. But will anyone muster up the courage?

An eerie and clever novel, The Houseguest introduces one of Berger's most dangerous and compelling villains.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Family, Novels

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Thomas Louis Berger was an American novelist, probably best known for his picaresque novel Little Big Man, which was adapted into a film by Arthur Penn. Berger explored and manipulated many genres of fiction throughout his career, including the crime novel, the hard-boiled detective story, science fiction, the utopian novel, plus re-workings of classical mythology, Arthurian legend, and the survival adventure.

Berger's use of humor and his often biting wit led many reviewers to refer to him as a satirist or "comic" novelist, though he rejected that classification.

Reviews

[J.C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, it's not that bad. It's just....irritating. i feel like the entire thing is a joke that i don't exactly get, that it was meant to be in a humorous light but has no punchline. A lot of the sentences are structured weird, and a lot of the "he/she said" is replaced with "said he/she", which is kind of weird but not terrible. Irritating, sure, but not an eye-rolling inducing atrocity.

I read this for class, but even though I was forced to read this book I still enjoyed it, it was easy to follow, the concepts not to hard to figure out, but really I feel like this isn't the best of Berger's work that I have read.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Berger. Even when he's not great he's still very good.

[Aaron Martz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant skewering of upper class values. Frustrating, at times tasteless, and all the way through as black as coffee. By the end, you hate the protagonists as much as the antagonist, and wish they would all be bound and drowned in the pool. Berger is one of the most under appreciated of American authors - a master craftsman with an unlimited vocabulary and a deep understanding of the human comedy, his books never fail to make me laugh and cringe, often at the same time.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am rating this 3 stars because of the quality of the writing. I understand that it is poking fun of the wealthy and those who cannot convey real feelings. There were a few parts that were funny. However, mostly it was extremely creepy and I dreaded going back to it. I did so because I wanted to find out how it ended. The ending was almost as bizarre as the rest of the story.
In a nutshell, it is the story of a houseguest who manages to terrify the hosts who are incapable of confrontation or any kind of meaningful communication. The new wife of the son is the exception. This is supposed to be due to her having come from an earthier family. I am not a fan of reducing people to their demographics but the need to remain outwardly cordial despite being pushed to crazy limits did get amusing at times. Glad it's over!

[Jim Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious ironic take on confusion and conflict in an upscale East Coast home. I gave it four stars because Berger's control of tone here is superb. I have recommended this book to a few people. None liked The Houseguest as much as I do. Some thought it was mean. But I'm a language guy, and as Berger piles absurdity on absurdity, characters define the prevailing circumstances in ways that reveal their neediness, their insecurity, their willingness to avoid seeing the truth no matter what. It's hilarious. Berger is a master at creating ambiguous situations where alliances between characters can shift in an instant to humorous effect. See Neighbors, another great book by Thomas Berger.

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The process that led to the decision to kill Chuck Burgoyne, who for the first week of his visit had proved the perfect houseguest, began on the Sunday when, though he had promised to prepare breakfast for all (he was a superb cook), he had not yet appeared in the kitchen by half past noon.” ~ p. 3

This is the first sentence of The Houseguest, the 1988 novel by Thomas Berger. The novel is about Chuck Burgoyne being the houseguest of the Graveses family, Doug, his wife Audrey, his son Bob and Bob’s wife Lydia. All four of them love Chuck but he quickly grows out of favor with them, and the family starts to accuse one another of letting this person into the house as their guest. Only to find out that none of them invited him.

The core of this novel is a home invasion story, one of the most frightening horror/thriller subgenres because a stranger breaking into our home and uprooting our lives is a total breakdown of our safe space. The whole world is dangerous when your home is in danger. The Graveses home is a vacation home on an island, and this creates a different type of danger. They are away from their real lives and can feel the isolation. There is no escape from the danger that Chuck Burgoyne represents, and he uses this as one of his advantages. This is also a social satire about the Graveses who have more money and privilege than sense. They feel like they can get away with whatever they want because they have money, this vacation house on an island ran by pretty much one family, The Finches, who do all of the cleaning, the taxi service, own the grocery store, and are law enforcement. Doug Graves is a lawyer and habitual adulterer that women are not safe to be around, even forcing himself on some of his son’s girlfriends when everyone was underage. His wife Audrey is sad, angry, and an alcoholic, mostly because she hates her husband and the life that she lives. Their son Bobby is an idiot, and Lydia does not know where she fits into this family. They all see themselves as better than the Finches and the island, and Chuck uses all of their arrogance against them. They think that they have the upper hand because this is their home, they are privileged, and they do not the sense to feel otherwise. As the book progresses, so do their schemes to kill Chuck, and each one is more ludicrous than the last. In the end the satire comes full circle.


The other thing that can be said about this novel, which can be noticed just from the first sentence, is that Thomas Berger’s writing is intricate and interesting. There are many things to unpack in this one sentence as well as every sentence. Berger writes a slim novel, but there are so many events that are explored, so much of the family history and character development unravels in a single sentence. This can be off-putting to some readers because this is not a style used very often. Periodically reading a book written with this much richness in every line is impressive. Even though the story does fall short in many aspects because there is not a single character that you want to win in the fight between the houseguest and the family, The Houseguest is an interesting read, if only for how it is written and how the story unfolds.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I've been reading Berger's novels in order of publication one of the things that has become apparent to me is that he often revisits a theme or a setting subsequent works. This results in two or more novels being related (not always in an explicit or formal way). For example, both _Sneaky People_ and _The Feud_ are similar in that they appear to be set in small town settings that bear some resemblance to Berger's own biographical home town. In the case of _The Houseguest_, this novel's situation resembles that of Berger's earlier (and more famous) novel _Neighbors_, though in my opinion this work is greatly superior to the earlier iteration. Both novels feature people intruding into the lives of the protagonist(s), even invading their homes. Where _Neighbors_ was flawed by Berger's conflation of realism and ambiguously fantastic elements (see my review of that novel; characters often seem to be in two places at once or have other uncanny behaviors that are not easily explained in the otherwise realistic mode of the work), _The Houseguest_ maintains the same aura of ambiguity, though everything eventually is explained satisfactorily. This allows Berger to successfully explore a nested series of issues: hospitality (in the classical Greek sense of the virtue), hypocrisy, morality, familial vs. non-familial relations, and, ultimately, the conflict between privileged visitors to an island and that island's comparatively impoverished and dependent "native" inhabitants. Berger's satire is fully and devastatingly unleashed, hitting not only the targets in the book (both the wealthy protagonists and the islanders) but, by implication, the societal representatives in the real world outside the novel (encompassing what used to be called "First" and "Third" world relations, relations of colonial and imperial domination, capitalist hierarchies of wealth and privilege vs. those hierarchies' targets of exploitation, etc.). This is a very good critique of not only Reagan's America (the context of the book's original publication) but Trump's America as well. This book deserves to be read and discussed widely today.

[L. L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Berger is probably best known for Little Big Man and Neighbors (made into a 1981movie with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd).

The Houseguest is a kind of detective story (the reader will be the detective, with a little help from Lydia, an intelligent young woman who has just married into a rich New England family). At least, this family has a summer house on an island and a group of socialite friends.

You'd think that Berger gave away the whole plot in the first paragraph, but no. The characters' lives are not just intriguing, he makes them so engaging that you want to look away, but you can't. People aren't doing much at first, but as we get to know them and their little family soap opera, and how the two couples in the book work, it also becomes contemporary fiction about life, relationships, diminishing wealth and expectations, spoiled children, isolation and togetherness and much else.

It is also funny in a wry, dark and even poignant way. The writing is so good. One of the characters is on such an even keel that she almost never shows emotion on her face - but sometimes "ripples appear on [her[ forehead." As they should.

Little by little, if we pay close attention, we see where the mystery and intrigue are coming from. There are layers of it. If we aren't caught up in the main drama, we are caught up in the two couples' relationships, and also the inter-generational ones. For me, it was like an extended summer stay with some parents of some rich kids at university (which I never got to do). The novel satisfied my curiosity about how such people live.

It got really good reviews when it was published. "Mr Berger is once again on the trail of Kafka."

(But, I like Berger better).

[I · Rating 2 out of 5]

The kind of a novel you finish because you've committed to it past the point you should've put it down for something else. A sloppy and clumsy caper that makes you want to know what happens in the end, and when you find out, makes you wonder, was it worth the time spent time to find out? Probably not.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very much liking other Berger’s, but not this one.

[Barry Cunningham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really my cup of tea.
I’m not buying copies to give to all of my friends.
The ending lost it a good 1 1/2 to 2 stars.

[Bill FromPA]

Previous: Being Invisible
Next: Changing the Past

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilarious novel about Chuck Burgoyne, at first the perfect houseguest, and his hosts, the Graves, a self-satisfied over-privileged bunch. The entire book is set in their summer house on the ocean. Hilarity ensues when, one by one, all members of the Graves family realize that in fact, Chuck was not invited; in fact, they are so polite as to assume that someone else invited him, entirely missing the fact that he was a stranger to all. He is very handy - he can tinker with cars, he can do more than boil pasta (the extent of their cooking skills), etc. However, when Chuck oversteps the bounds of a houseguest, the Graves must take things into their own lacking hands.

This is my second Berger; based on how fun it was to read, I'll read more.

*spoiler alert*
This is a satire on the follies of human nature right up Shakespeare's alley - despite how horrible Chuck is, the reader has the sinking suspicion that he might in fact be a better person than they! The Graves have the disgusting ability to justify and talk themselves into almost any reprehensible act (the senior Graves is a lawyer, the younger a fledgling one). The rape sequence was uncomfortable - it's a literary device; much like Barnes in Love, etc, the rape itself is used to further a theme but has the ability to become all the focus, at least for this reader. The rape was treated, in the end, as equal in magnitude to Chuck's other transgressions (like carrying a gun) - this doesn't ring true, even as I understand Berger's intent.

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise for a novel, I'd actually give it 2 1/2 stars. It had its moments where it seemed like something might happen, but really it seemed like a drawn out episode of Seinfeld without the humor. The ending was anti-climactic, and actually irritated me a little (although that may have been the ultimate purpose so..) Also, I don't think I've ever read a book where I dislike all of the characters. It was like Jersey shore, without the booze, with old-money people.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's readable, quick, perverse, funny. It goes down nice and smooth. But it's probably not the most memorable novel you'll ever read.

I found it a nice palate cleanser after the brilliant and massive (and massively readable) _2666_.

[Marisa Turpin · Rating 1 out of 5]

What? Totally didn't get this book. I skipped to the end partway through, then went back and skimmed it. I had read a lot of positive reviews. Here's a true one = It's not good! Don't waste YOUR time.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy-good but I hated the end

[Kristi Brendle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird weird weird. But a train wreck you can't put down.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3rd or 4th read

[Brent Legault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read so long ago that all I can recall from it is its aura of incredulity and an echo of cruel laughter.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Plain dumb. could not finish. I did laugh at the very beginning, but not even that worth reading on.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with J.C.'s take on this book. I had enjoyed reading about Thomas Berger, but this was the first book of his that I tried. Later, I read Little Big Man which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was confused throughout the whole book on what was going on. I don't know who was the bigger joke, Chuck or the Graves.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this savage little book. It's about caricature and not character, but the prose is witty and sneakily funny.