The Nest
“Hilarious and big-hearted, The Nest is a stellar debut.” — People
A warm, funny and acutely perceptive debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and their lives.
Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs' joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest’s value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems.
Melody, a wife and mother in an upscale suburb, has an unwieldy mortgage and looming college tuition for her twin teenage daughters. Jack, an antiques dealer, has secretly borrowed against the beach cottage he shares with his husband, Walker, to keep his store open. And Bea, a once-promising short-story writer, just can’t seem to finish her overdue novel. Can Leo rescue his siblings and, by extension, the people they love? Or will everyone need to reimagine the futures they’ve envisioned? Brought together as never before, Leo, Melody, Jack, and Beatrice must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths, and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives.
This is a story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.
?Instant New York Times Bestseller; named a Best Book of 2016 by People, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Refinery29, NPR and LibraryReads.
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Readers say *The Nest* offers a sharply funny, honest look at family dynamics and inheritance, with well-drawn characters and engaging prose. Many app...
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
353 pages
What’s it about?
This novel is all about the Plumb family- in particular the four grown Plumb children. Yes they are unlikable at times, yes they have issues, yes they resemble some people we know…. but the author writes about them with love and lots of humor. This unfailingly honest portrayal of the adult Plumb children grappling to get a hold of the family nest egg is worth your time. Plus, in Leo, we find a character that we can dislike without feeling conflicted about it.
What did it make me think about?
Life is filled with difficulties- the key is finding joy in the unexpected places.
Should I read it?
Really fun summer beach read!
Quote-
“Over the years, she’d considered having a baby with any number of people. Marriage was not part of her plan: she wasn’t against it, she just wasn’t for it. She treated her occasional yearning for a baby the same way she treated her occasional yearning for a dog. Let it linger and wait to see if it passed, which it always did, which she took as a good sign. Because other things she desired (her house, a particular author signed, a midcentury table in good condition) didn’t flit through, they planted themselves until she turned desire into ownership. That her fleeting thoughts of motherhood never truly haunted her the way, say, her quest for the magenta peony bushes in her yard did was comforting as she imagined her ovaries surrendering the final vestiges of fertile eggs into the hinterlands of her reproductive system.”
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The Nest was immensely enjoyable. The four dysfunctional Plumb siblings have counted the days until they receive their inheritance, letting the promise of their new wealth shape the choices they have made along the way. But when their mother uses the money to rescue the eldest sibling from an unfortunate situation, they are all forced to scramble their lies into a new reality. Sweeney superbly crafts each character she introduces, fleshing out their backstory and tying them into the plot with expertise. With so many characters being introduced, I expected to get confused, but each one resonated with a distinctive voice. I desperately wanted to dislike the Plumb siblings for throwing tantrums when they discovered their leisurely lifestyle wouldn't be as easy to obtain as they expected, but I found myself rooting for each one, hoping they would find the peace and happiness they wanted. Beautifully written, charming, and dynamic, this debut novel will be a hit!
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