The Nest

This is probably actually closer to 2.5 stars for me, but since I use two stars to mean "didn't like it" not "it's ok", I thought giving it 2 stars was too low.

It could just be that literary fiction is not for me, but I felt like this book was not at all as advertised. To be fair, I did misread the synopsis at some point because I thought the story was "kids find out older brother had been mismanaging trust fund upon his unexpected death" so I spent a lot of the first couple of chapters waiting for Leo to die. But also the copy (and all of the book lists that rec'd this book) went out of its way to talk about how hilarious this book was, and it was not. Far from it, actually, all of these people were miserable characters, twin insults of being both selfish and shallow.

Perhaps my biggest complaint, however, is not the main characters, but the fact that we were treated to an extended backstory for every single person in the book. The flashbacks got to the point where at times I wasn't sure if we were in the present or not because the flashbacks were PAGES LONG. This wasn't a bad debut by any means, but I'm not sure I'm interested in any further works from Sweeney. While I ultimately finished reading this, even though I considered abandoning it around 25% or so, I never got to the point where I liked any of these people. Maybe that was the point? I'm not sure.

"The Nest" is the nickname four siblings have for a shared inheritance, and this novel explores what happens when the nest sustains irreparable damage caused by one of these siblings. Of course, Leo, Jack, Bea, and Melody have their age old patterns of perceiving and dealing with one anther, which is revealed in effective flashback scenes. I admire the way the author chose these defining moments in their shared history. Also, Sweeney keeps multiple story lines going without confusing the reader or slowing down. She kept me turning the pages, totally engrossed.

There are both happy and sad endings here, and the denouement was neatly done, especially for having so many characters. I felt that most of what happened seemed plausible, and most of the characters likeable.

The novel's premise is also very thought-provoking; how would each of these siblings behave, if she/he had been the one to damage the nest? This would make an interesting discussion...

This was well worth the read and I'd recommend it to anyone.