The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

HarperCollins Publishers | March 2016 | 368 pgs

Source: Library

This is a story about a dysfunctional Plumb family surrounding four adult siblings and how one accident would disrupt the normalcy of their lives and endanger their joint trust fund they called "The Nest". This lump sum was set aside by their now-deceased father; it was supposedly a conservative amount but has expectedly soared along with the stock market and each sibling would be entitled to his/her share but it wouldn't be available until Melody, the youngest sibling, turned forty. Of course their father had his own plans and principles when the time for distribution of funds is concerned; he had given a great deal of thought and believed that the trust he established would allow his children to value hard work and be financially independent before they'd received the funds too early which would in turn lead to lassitude and indolence, which he didn't want and intend to.

Each sibling has been looking forward to the day they would get the fund; after all each has his/her dreams and goals to meet and some extra money might help with their existing problems, whatever they are. Unfortunately their hopes are dashed when their eldest sibling, Leo, got into an accident and to make matters worse it involved a nineteen-year-old girl whom Leo decided to have a little fling but ended up losing her foot after the horrific accident. "The Nest" ended up in that girl's hands to keep her quiet and this causes an uproar within the siblings and creates more complexity to their already tensed relationship.

The Nest has received a variety of mixed reviews ranging from some readers' raves to a few others' rants but personally I found this to be an addictive read. The story of the Plumb family reminds us about the harsh reality of life, the foundation of a family and how trivial issues such as money could tear relationships apart. Though the story is nothing new, what made this stand out is the characterisations and the decisions they made seemed to "snowball" into something uncontrollable, which in turn made this such a compelling read (never mind some annoying characters) as each rears their ugly head. However, the direction of the story is not negative (or depressing) as one may have thought though I wished the (bittersweet) ending is... well, a bit more complete. Still, it was beautifully written and thought-provoking in many ways.

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