Friday, March 31, 2017

The Nest

The Nest / Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, 353 pp.

Four siblings, raised in comfort in New York, must wait until the youngest sister's 40th birthday to receive their portion of a large inheritance.  But one of the four, Leo, the oldest, may have put the whole 'nest' in peril because he...well, because he acted like a stereotypical wealthy, entitled white guy.

And this was my problem with this deftly written and carefully plotted novel.  The four siblings, along with most of the large supporting cast, are both morally and psychologically hollow, A minor subplot involves the widower of a 9/11 victim, and he is the only remotely sympathetic character.  Even that bit seems a little silly, as if 9/11 were invoked merely for the purposes of injecting gravitas.

And yet.  The Nest was a big 2016 bestseller and won a raft of accolades.  So maybe it's me.

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