The Nest

This was an enjoyable, quick and easy read; I didn't particularly love it, but the writing is delicate and deliberate and I found myself swept up in the family drama. However, it felt suuuppeer bougie, ensconced in a perspective of white privilege (and considering that is my own perspective, I did not enjoy it as I seek books as a means to widen my own perspective). And I bought the internal lives of the characters fell a bit flat/all ran into each other. Some characters were barely fleshed out at all, so it felt strange to have even brief access to their psyche. And the ending felt a little too happily-ever-after for me.

This was a fine book, not great but ok. It was difficult to see how this family who had grown apart actually ended up coming together. The characters were slightly quirky, but not quirky enough, and I wasn't sure I really liked any of them. It wasn't because they were flawed (I love flawed characters when done correctly), it just wasn't deep enough into any of them to find the redeeming qualities. I guess that's the problem–a bit too shallow (but not in a fun, quirky way).

The Nest
3.5 stars. The premise of this book really had me intrigued but the follow through was not as great as I expected. The characters were interesting and the plot moved along well. I just thought that so much more could have been done with the family scenario. Recommend for those who like adult contemporary novels and are willing to keep their expectations in check.

I have to admit, I'm sometimes kind of a hyped book snob, in that I tend to avoid them. Hyped books are so hit or miss – sometimes, they deserve all the attention, whereas other times, I just can't understand the hype at all. This one, for me, falls somewhere in between those two extremes. I'm going to have to spoil alert this post, because my only disappointment with this book was the ending. Don't worry, I'll warn you 😉

The Nest is a story about a dysfunctional family of 4 adult children and their aging mother. They've been promised a piece of their late father's invested money, aka “the nest”. However, they can only get it when the youngest sibling, Melody, turns 40. Those are the rules. When eldest son Leo gets into a drug-fueled car accident that needs to be covered up to avoid a public stain on the family name, mom digs into the nest for the money. Bye-bye to all that money they needed so badly!

So, in a nutshell, The Nest becomes a story about the struggle to maintain life with dwindling funds. Supporting families, running businesses, and keeping up lifestyles is no longer guaranteed without that money. Each of the siblings had different plans for that money, and now they've got to adapt.

Some people found this story to be a bunch of used-to-be-rich kids crying and whining over their lost money. While I definitely understand where that comes from, I did like and identify with several of the characters. I thought there was a lot of great character development going on here, and that made this story into a colorful one for me. Each characters' story is different and interesting, and I was drawn in pretty quickly to their fight to keep a sense of normalcy in life.

OK, if you haven't read The Nest and you plan on doing so, you may want to stop reading here, because I'm about to talk about the ending. You have been warned!!

Read the rest of this review here: http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2016/08/review-the-nest/

As the book opens, we are introduced to the horrible Plumb siblings. Avaricious New Yorker who've borrowed against a massive shared trust coined The Nest, that has been held for them until the youngest turns 40. When they find the Nest has been spent to quiet an incident involving brother Leo, a crashed Porsche and a waitress that was certainly not his wife, their lives begin to spin apart.

These are horribly unlikeable New York urbanites. Everyone is obsessed with what others might think - how they present to the world. Melody is overprotective and adamant about her twin girls attending the right college. Paul has been borrowing behind his husband's back to try and keep his antique shop afloat, confident in the Nest's ability to bail him out. Bea is a stalled writer who has been coasting on her early success for over a decade without producing anything.

And from there, like some Manhattan based Marquez novel, we're introduced to at least a dozen minor characters involved in the lives of the Plumbs. To Sweeney's credit she manages to juggle them all and keep them clear in my head - but it began to feel like an operatic romance novel with it's myriad plot lines and machinations rendered in brief glimpses.

I appreciate that the ending isn't entirely pat but it does render most everyone in a nice glossy patina of hope like some Hugh Grant ensemble movie.

3.5 Stars

I really enjoyed this one. The author has a nice easy reading style. The characters were interesting and well developed. I do think it could have been a tad bit shorter, I felt it dragged along in a few place. It have a nice little epilogue, but I was disappointed in the lack of resolution for one of the characters.

Overall though this was a decent read.

First of all, this book was chosen for me by my 6-year-old son, so....good job, buddy.

Second, this novel is a perfect example of the fact that I don't have to like ANY of the characters in a novel to find the reading experience pleasurable. These characters were all kinda horrible, and yet I was completely engrossed in their story. I am definitely eagerly awaiting this author's next novel.