May Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

 

 

 

The book I will be reviewing this month is THE NEST by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney.

I learned about this book because I had recorded a late night talk show to see interviews by the two other celebrities that were on that night (ironically I don't recall what talk show it was or who the two other guests were!).  I had no intention of watching her interview and had assumed (before I saw the interview) she was some young new star that I was too old to know who she was.  I was fast forwarding to the end of the show when I, for some unknown reason, pressed "play" when she came on.  I heard the words "debut book" and decided to watch the interview after all.

They said the book was about four siblings who didn't allow alcohol when they would get together so they each, unbeknownst to the others, would go to separate bars to drink before they would meet.  I heard that and thought it had the potential of being a fun book.

I got the book from my library and as I was about to start reading, it occurred to me that I might have too high of expectations for the book.  The story centers around a trust (aka The Nest) that had been set up for the siblings shortly before their father died.  His intention was that the money would serve as a modest midlife supplement but after his death the money had been invested wisely and the nest had grown beyond all expectations.  The money was to be distributed after the youngest sibling turned 40.

Knowing that they have a large sum of money coming to them, they all live beyond their current means, something they manage to keep secret from their significant others.  They figure that once they get the money they can fix things and no one has to be the wiser.  So of course something happens that throws a wrench into their plans.  Leo, the oldest sibling and who happens to be in the process of getting a divorce, gets behind the wheel of a car while drunk and high and causes an accident that results in a serious injury to a third party.  In an effort to keep everyone (the soon-to-be ex-wife and the injured party) quiet on the matter, the siblings' mother all but empties the nest (a right the father had included in the trust agreemenet) to pay for their silence.  

The rest of the story is about  how they all cope with this new development.

The book had a lot of potential but it also had some serious flaws.  Among the flaws was the fact that the book seemed a bit disjointed, if that's the right word.  There wasn't a real fluidity in the story telling.  With the exception of a handful of chapters, there was no real presence of time and the chapters were interchangeable as to the location they could be placed in the book.  For the most part a scene or a chapter involved only one person and their thoughts.  In most instances the character the scene or chapter was about would remember a long ago event so it felt a lot like mostly a flashback / data dump story.  And whenever there were multiple characters in a scene or chapter, there was a LOT of head hopping.  I was never confused about whose head we were in but it was glaringly obvious that we were head hopping.  In one scene there were three characters and in one of the paragraphs we hopped into every one of the character's heads . . . multiple times . . . in one paragraph.

The way the story was told reminded me a lot of the movie VALENTINE'S DAY with the overwhelming amount of characters and how so little time was spent with each character.  As a result of this, there wasn't a lot of character development and none of the characters came across as particularly sympathetic.  But you assume that it's all going to tied up in a nice little bow at the end, and for the most part it was.  I just felt that the ending was rushed and didn't provide an entirely satisfying ending to the story.

I realize that this review probably sounds like I'm trashing the book but despite all its flaws I found it to be an interesting read.  I never felt the need to hurl the book across the room but I did want to continue reading to see how it was all resolved.  I don't know that I would recommend paying full price for the book but I think it might be worth borrowing from the library.

For more book reviews go to www.barriesummy.blogspot.com.