The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (Epub)

Description

A wickedly smart, funny and deeply felt debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of their long-depended-upon family inheritance. An instant Globe and Mail bestseller

On a wintry afternoon in New York City, Melody, Beatrice and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, who has just been released from rehab. Leo’s bad behaviour, culminating in a car crash while under the influence—a nineteen-year-old waitress beside him—has endangered the Plumbs’ joint trust fund, or “the Nest,” as they’ve taken to calling it. The four siblings are at very different places in their lives, but all believe that this money will solve a host of self-inflicted problems and their consequences. And until Leo’s accident, they’d been mere months away from receiving it.

Can Leo get the Plumbs out of this mess, as he’s always been able to do for himself before? Or will the Plumb siblings have to do without the money and the future lives they’ve envisioned? As the siblings grapple with family tensions, old histories and the significant emotional and financial cost of the accident, Sweeney introduces an unforgettable cast of supporting characters: Leo’s stalwart ex-girlfriend who now thinks that maybe, just maybe, he is capable of change; the waitress whose life was shattered in the accident and the Iraqi war veteran who falls in love with her; and a retired, grieving firefighter with a very big secret.

Tender, funny and deftly written, The Nest explores what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of our lives, and the fraught but unbreakable ties we have with our families.

User’s Reviews

Review The Nest ambles along so beautifully, what a pleasure to read! It’s a wise, funny, compassionate family drama, full of irresistible surprises, witty conversations, and necessary emotional truths. — Jami Attenberg, author of The MiddlesteinsCynthia D’Aprix Sweeney has undoubtedly given us the best summer read of the year. — Kelly Oxford“The Nest ambles along so beautifully, what a pleasure to read! It’s a wise, funny, compassionate family drama, full of irresistible surprises, witty conversations, and necessary emotional truths.” — Jami Attenberg, author of The Middlesteins“A masterfully constructed, darkly comic, and immensely captivating tale…not only clever, but emotionally astute. Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney is a real talent.” — Elizabeth Gilbert“In her intoxicating first novel, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney has written an epic family story that unfolds in a deeply personal way. The Nest is a fast-moving train and Sweeney’s writing dares us to keep up. I couldn’t stop reading or caring about the juicy and dysfunctional Plumb family.” — Amy Poehler“Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney delivers an acerbic satire of the leisure class while crafting an affecting human story that embroils us utterly in the fates of the Plumbs…This book keeps its blade sharp and its heart open.” — Matthew Thomas, author of We Are Not Ourselves“The Nest is a trenchant, darkly funny, and beautiful novel.” — Bret Anthony Johnston“Humor and delightful irony abound in this lively first novel.” — New York Times Book ReviewIn her debut, Sweeney spins a fast-moving, often-humorous narrative, and her portrait of each sibling is compassionate even as she reveals their foibles with emotional clarity…assured, energetic, and adroitly plotted…an engrossing narrative that endears readers to the Plumb family for their essential humanity.” — Publishers Weekly“[A] generous, absorbing novel…Sweeney’s endearing characters are quirky New Yorkers all… [a] lively novel. A fetching debut from an author who knows her city, its people, and their heart.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) From the Back Cover A wickedly smart, funny, and deeply felt debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of their long depended upon family inheritanceEvery 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. 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.The Nest 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.

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Whenever I’m interested in a book, I generally go right to the reader reviews, assuming that I will get an appraisal that’s more in line with what I might like than I would get from professional critics. After reading the negative reviews on this book, I might be re-thinking that philosophy. I bought the Kindle version of this book on sale, mostly because it had a lot of good buzz surrounding it. I put it off for awhile because many of the recent reviews were negative, but I finally decided to give it a try, knowing that if it was as boring as many readers thought, I could put it down at anytime.Well, I am glad I picked it up and kept with it because I found it to be delightful. Many reviewers said it was dull and poorly written, but I found it to be briskly plotted, and the writing style was charming and engaging. They said the characters were mean and unsympathetic and there were too many of them. I found them to be entirely sympathetic and relatable. Yes, they were privileged Manhattanites, but inside that world they were just as flawed and funny and looking for a happy ending as anyone else. There were secondary characters who weaved in and out of the main narrative of the Plumb siblings with ease and I had no problem keeping up with them. Some readers also said that the ending was cliched and too contrived. Nope, not the case for me. It was a satisfying ending and the conclusion was a logical, natural flow of the story, fitting well with the rest of the novel.So don’t listen to the negative reviews. If you are interested in this book,read it. You’ll be glad you did.

⭐ When will do publishing embrace good books? The characters in this book were so superficial and their situations predictable and shallow. Forced my way through this one. Kudos marketing department. It just shows you can market crap and people will buy it.

⭐ I liked this book! And it would appear that based on many of the reader reviews this is distinctly a minority opinion.Granted, it’s not great literature, but most definitely it is not as awful as so many are depicting it. Written by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, this is a story about well-off New Yorkers and their bad boy (or bad girl) ways. And it’s fun to read, even though the plot is fairly—but not entirely—predictable.The four Plumb siblings, Leo, Beatrice, Jack, and Melody, have known for decades that when Melody, the youngest, turns 40, they will inherit what their eccentric father thought of as nothing more than a small nest egg. A bit of extra money in midlife to pay down a mortgage or put a kid through college. Nothing life-changing. But their deceased daddy didn’t count on a runaway stock market that left the little nest egg hurtling toward $2 million. Then their equally-eccentric mother, who is the fund’s trustee, is forced to use “the Nest,” as the kids call it, to bail out one of the sibs after a scandal and keep the family name out of the gossip pages. The problem is that the others were totally counting on this money—as in, they could each be financially ruined if they don’t get it. But the book is so much more than that. The four are each having a life crisis—the kind that money can’t fix. And that is the heart and soul of the story.The book is an interesting examination of the power of money—actually, just the idea of money—for good and evil and how that power can take over and distort an otherwise good life.

⭐ I was reeled in by the great cover and because I’m a sucker for contemporary family drama and dysfunction. But these are stock characters, and the narrative is just incredibly boring. LIKE, SO BORING. Very disappointing because I was looking forward to reading this book for a long time. I’m just happy I didn’t spend more than the discounted Kindle price. (Full disclosure, I only read 50% of the book before stopping.)

⭐ I only saw the negative reviews after I had purchased this one. But thought I would give it a try and go in with an open mind. Lots had said they quit half way through so I thought maybe it has some profound ending to elicit a best seller status. But sadly no.Too many characters. Like 20 or so names mentioned. Hard to keep track so having to read and reread since the story jumped all over the place. Lots of descriptive scenes but over the top and unnecessary. I just feel like the story didn’t go anywhere. Page after page just trying to figure out why are we learning about this to have all the stories thrown together at the end for still no purpose. What was the point of this story? Nothing to learn and definitely not emotionally invested in the characters. This must be the authors first book. But again why so many accolades?

⭐ I almost didn’t read this book due to all of the negative (some VERY negative) reviews. Not a good sign. But I did notice the glowing critical reviews, and Amazon put it on sale for an amazing deal one day so I bought it. Regarding the reviewer who made a sarcastic comment about the very long opening sentience, my comment is “have you ever read Hemingway?” – sorry, just an aside. I really liked and enjoyed this novel. No, the main characters are pretty dysfunctional, and I guess somewhat unlikable, especially Leo, but hey, a lot of novels have one of those immoral, lying, slacker narcissists and remain interesting. First and foremost, it was very readable.’ The author is a very good writer, and has talent for description and dialogue that paints a clear scene for the reader. I agree the plot and characters are not happy or uplifting. The (unhappily married) Leo slips out of a wedding reception, inebriated, with a 19 year old attractive Mexican service worker for a sexual liaison and ends up causing an accident in which the young woman loses her foot.. Leo is one of four siblings, all caricatures, but still interesting in their unique ways. Their mother, a rude alcoholic, is guardian of a trust fund left by her now deceased husband that will leave each of the adult children $500,000 when the youngest child reaches a specific age, which is one year away. Termed by the four children as “The Nest,” each make their own open or secret plans for the expected windfall, ranging from sending their children to private upscale universities to getting themselves out of bad financial situations. All of this comes crashing down due to Leo’s accident (who, by the way, had let his auto liability insurance lapse) when their mother makes a private settlement with the young Mexican girl (Matilda) so as to both avoid scandal and potential larger legal financial costs if it went to court. This reduces each share for the four siblings to $50,000. Incensed, they look to Leo to make up their losses, but Leo, being “Leo” makes vague promises to keep them off his back but basically bails on them. The arc of the story is each of the siblings dealing with not only this financial loss and its consequences on their grand plans, but also delves into their relationships, their shortcomings, their frailties, and ultimately their coming to terms with their lives. I thought it was a great read. I was genuinely interested in “what happens next.” The writing, dialogue, and phrasing is spot on. Agree about the unlikable characters, but I’ve read other great books with unlikable characters and enjoyed them as well. I’d definitely read this author again.

⭐ The very first paragraph takes up almost a third of the page and it goes on and on. I read it a couple times thinking “have I missed a period here?” Nope, just one very long disjointed sentence. Read the first couple chapters then flipped through it. Skimmed to the last chapter and that was enough. Not my kind of book. It’s what I’d called a “romance” novel dressed up to be a current day best seller. So disappointing. Check it out at the library. My copy is going to Good Will.

⭐ Terrible…to the point where I didn’t even want to finish it. Probably the first book, in 20 years, I haven’t finished reading. To each their own, but those who finished it…kudos to your never ending patience and fortitude.

⭐ I was listening to Marc’s long standing WTF podcast and he interviewed comedian Mike Sweeney who at the end happened to mention his wife’s book… I’m so glad he did, this was a most excellent read! It’s engaging, intriguing, thoroughly drenched in fantastic, quirky detail and you don’t want to put it down. I was fully invested in all the characters. I am a big fan of Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney now and look forward to reading all her works in the future!

⭐ The story of a family who is facing financial disaster when a inheritance they were all expecting fails to come. I felt although each family member had different back story, they lacked individual voice. Especially the female characters, I honestly couldn’t tell Melody and Bea apart except for their names and back story. jack was jus an Angry Gay version of Leo. Why I admire, that we did not get a sappy happy ending. I guess a was hoping for a more definitive resolution. In the end I kept hearing The Rolling Stones You can.t always get what you want playing in my head.

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