Leo had been avoiding his wife, Victoria, who was barely speaking to him and his sister Beatrice who wouldn’t stop speaking to him—rambling on and on about getting together for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. In July. Leo hadn’t spent a holiday with his family in twenty years, since the mid-’90s if he was remembering correctly: he wasn’t in the mood to start now. 

So this is Leo and this will be Leo for the rest of the book, no matter how much he seems to undergo any sort of reformation; people like Leo do not reform, they perform. To an excellence that may even fool themselves at times…

Meet the Plumbs

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest centers around the Plumb family – mother Francie, brothers Leo and Jack, sisters Bea and Melody, and their late father Leonard Sr., ever-present thanks to his financial legacy called “the nest.” We also meet extended family, like Leonard Sr.’s second cousin George, an attorney, Walker, Jack’s husband, as well as Melody’s husband Walter and their twin Louisa and Nora, about to go to college. And there is Stephanie, Bea’s former literary agent and Leo’s former lover.

Leo, the oldest brother and the most successful sibling regarding monetary matters, crashed his car while high and drunk getting a handjob from 19-year-old waitress Matilda Rodriguez, whom he picked up at the wedding he attended with his wife and sister. While he isn’t seriously hurt, Matilda is — which has consequences for the golden boy if the Plumb family. George Plumb, trustee of “the nest” and the family’s attorney, seeks the best possible option for Leo, using a huge sum from “the nest” to pay off Matilda. However, Leo is still facing a divorce from his wife Victoria and the New York high society ready for a scandal surrounding the once successful Leo Plumb. So he hides away in rehab until the dust settles and no one will even remember who Leo Plumb is. Which seems like a good idea — but it’s not, at least not according to the rest of the Plumb brood.

The Plumbs have needs

Especially Jack and Melody desperately need and count on their share of the money from “the nest.” They would get their share of the trust on Melody’s 40th birthday, which is just months away at the start of the book. However, after George and mother Francie decide to dip into “the nest” to get Leo off the hook, the shares of the rest of the Plumbs shrink significantly. Jack’s share won’t pay off his debts, Melody’s won’t cover the mortgage for the new family home she and Walter bought. Leo screwed up big time and he brought them all down with him.

Of course, this book is not only about the money. In the end, it is hardly about money at all, but about a dysfunctional family in a dysfunctional society in a traumatized city full of traumatized people who try to make a living in the best ways possible. And that’s where the magic starts. Focusing on some familiar themes — moderately rich or well-off white brats going through life more or less aware of a world and people around them; immigrants trying to make it big or at least bigger than their parents in their new home country; people traumatized from war, injuries, 9/11, and its aftermath — we have seen and read about before (and better), Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney introduces a wide array of (supporting) characters to illustrate that money alone does not bring happiness and if it does, there sure is a very good reason for it. Connecting the fate of a spoiled old white man like Leo with an Iraq War veteran and a man who lost the love of his life on 9/11 may sound a bit much for a book about some rich white ‘kids’ waiting for their trust fund money; and yet I enjoyed the way Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney tells these stories. As usual, it wasn’t easy for me to remember who is who at times — husbands Walker and Walter posed a bit of a challenge, to be honest — but that’s just my ADHD fuzzybrain and not the author’s fault.

The Plumbs play with clichés

Just when you think “oh well, we’ve read THAT before,” the author turns to take a different route. Not necessarily one that has never been heard of before BUT still one that you would not expect her to go, simply because novels of this category — “light fiction”: entertaining with some (dark) humor, bit of a critical undertone, but overall easy to read — often choose the easy way out, ‘rewarding’ our anticipation with corresponding clichés. This rarely happens here, so I really enjoyed spending time with the Plumbs and their people, no matter how forceable some storylines were at times. Besides, this is also about familiarity — don’t we all know this ONE SPECIAL friend/family member/ex-lover/colleague/acquaintance/asshole in exactly the same situation as Leo, Jack, Bea, …?

So what happens to people who spend money they have not yet received – and may likely never get their hands on due to unforeseeable events and their asshole older brother? They are in a world of shit…so to say. And we are there with them, following their every move. The book is a composition of different life stories and their various voices, perspectives, and worlds; an enthralling novel and a real pleasure to read. If you want something entertaining, humorous, and diverse to read, check the blurb and if you like it, go for it!

SPOILER ALERT:

I want to close with a quote I love from the last chapter of the book, so be warned and continue reading at your own risk, knowing too much too early OR not understanding a thing:

Years later, when the tree had grown and formed the perfect canopy over the rear of the yard, Lila would marry beneath the massive leafy boughs turning red and orange on a blindingly beautiful October afternoon. She would ask Jack to escort her down the leaf-strewn path to her partner. Jack would be good to Lila all her life, showing up whenever she was missing a father. On the day of her wedding when Lila appeared on Jack’s almost-seventy-year-old arm, Stephanie would see Leo at her side and for a debilitating moment would be crushed by the enormity of everything he’d missed.

I love this quote because it is so positive, it is not about the daughter being left behind and missing out, but the father missing all the wonderful stuff that comes with having kids. To me, there is so much love in this small passage, I cried the first time I read it (which sounds a bit much, but you may understand me better once you’ve read the book :)).

If you read the book, let me know what you think about it.

As always, thanks for stopping by 🙂