The Nest audiobook

congratulations! semifinalist in goodreads' best fiction category 2016! each dysfunctional family is dysfunctional in its own way...the only word to describe this book is "breezy." and that's not to imply it is "unchallenging" or "unsophisticated," just that reading it is a truly pleasurable experience and it both carries you away and sucks you in until you look up and it's four in the morning and you've forgotten to eat dinner and you don't even care. it's a multiple POV novel revolving around family money, new york, society, and disappointment - an updated edith wharton novel but with more disastrous hand jobs. here we are joining the charmingly flawed plumb family at a moment of crisis - three of the adult siblings; melody, jack, and bea, in varying degrees of estrangement from each other, are coming together to discuss a shared catastrophe - their not-insignificant joint trust fund, which each of them has been complacently anticipating and spending against for years, was nearly in their clutches (for some just in the nick of financial time), when it is suddenly liquidated by their mother to smooth over the spectacularly bad consequences of their eldest brother leo's mess. i.e. - the disastrous hand job. leo has always enjoyed the benefits of his charm and charisma, coasting through life and work and relationships, making bad choices but still being indulged and coddled by everyone he knew. but with this latest episode, he finds that the shine might have been bruised off his apple for good. the story unfolds not only through the perspectives of leo and his increasingly frantic siblings, but also their children, lovers, colleagues, neighbors, and the woman whose hand performed the job. it's a family story, it's a new york story, it's a social satire targeting the wealthy, the nearly wealthy, the literary scene, the art world, activists, mommy culture, etc but don't be fooled into thinking this is some funny, frivolous book. it's a frequently funny book that's willing to kick a person when they're down, but still has heart and depth and character growth and so many wonderful new york winks. it's just …great. i don't know what else to say about this book; i don't wanna risk reducing its appeal with some dry regurgitation of plot that wouldn't convey the juicy gossipy fun of it, so i'm gonna be lazy with this review and just say "here's a fun breezy book that odds are good you'd enjoy." ***********************************************oh, man - i stayed up until four in the morning reading this last night. SUCH bookcrack. review to come, but know that this is super fun and you should look into it.come to my blog!

He hesitated. Above him, an ear-splitting screech. He looked up to see three enormous crows, perched on the bare branches of one of the few trees that had already dropped its leaves. They were all squawking at once, as if they were arguing about his next move. Directly beneath, in the midst of the stark and barren branches and at the base of a forked limb, a mud-brown leafy mass. A nest. Jesus. Leo checked the time and started walking. When Leo Plumb, 46, and very unhappily married, enjoying the benefits of booze, cocaine, and Welbutrin, picks up 19-year-old waitress, Matilda Rodriguez, at a wedding, it’s business as usual. But the joys of the moment come to a crashing halt when the Porsche in which Leo is spiriting her away, the car in which she is putting her hand to good use, is T-boned by an SUV, and Matilda is seriously injured. It’s gonna take mucho dinero to put the lid on this one. I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Good news? OK. The good news, for Leo anyway, is that there is a considerable family inheritance left by his late father, which can be raided for emergencies. Staying out of jail counts, so how much should we make this check out for? The bad news is that the inheritance was intended for four siblings and Leo’s indiscretion has slashed the total considerably. They are very interested in knowing when Leo is going to re-feather the nest he had just raided like a raccoon in the night. Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney - From her Twitter pagesLeo Tolstoy famously said All happy families resemble each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The Plumb family is unhappy in diverse ways. Sweeney measures their depths. The family refers to their inheritance as The Nest, and their relationship to it, with Leo’s raiding of it, constitutes the core around which this family tale is woven. His charm and skill at manipulation will not be enough to get Leo out of this mess. He may have bought his way out of a jail sentence, but he still needs to come up with some serious cash to make The Nest whole again. He hasn’t exactly been working in the many years since he sold his on-line media business. And there is his bitch of a trophy wife to keep up. She is very fond of spending. The Plumbs, despite their father’s financial success, are not wildly wealthy. Melody, nearing 40, is a suburban housewife, struggling to make ends meet in a place where she is very much on the lower economic rungs. She has twin daughters on the verge of college and could really use the money she has been expecting. Beatrice had some success as a writer years ago, but it has been a long time since she produced any writing of quality. She lives in an Upper West Side apartment, a love nest given to her by a late lover, which ain’t nuthin’, especially in NYC, but it’s not like she can sit home and clip coupons either. She has remained in a low-end job long after she should have grown to something more. Finally, Jack has been in a couple with Walker for many years. He runs an antiques shop that specializes in losing money. Walker is the breadwinner of the pair, but Jack would like to be depositing instead of constantly withdrawing. He is in debt up to his eyeballs. The potential absence of his bailout money from The Nest is a blow, so when a shady opportunity presents itself, he has to decide where he is willing to draw the line.In this ensemble cast, we follow the siblings, along with a smattering of others, through their travails, and see them come to grips, or not, with the possible loss of a nest egg they had all been counting on for a long time. The issues they face are not merely how to cope with a cash flow shortfall. Sweeney has larger targets in her sights. The characters here are faced with moral choices. How would you have managed, given the situation? How would any of us? It is certainly the case, for all but the most blessed (and we hate them) that our hopes and dreams for this or that, whether a relationship, a career direction, parenthood, something, go all to hell. Sometimes, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Which is nice if you are fond of aphorisms. Sometimes, what doesn’t kill us leaves us frightened, damaged, and scarred. (I mean, they don't call it Post Traumatic Stress Improvement, do they?) Sometimes it can open a door to a new appreciation, offer a new path, uncover an unseen possibility. Or it closes all available doors, locks the windows and drops a match on a kerosene covered floor. I’m just sayin’. Two paths, at least for each of the sibs. Which will they take? What sorts of people do they want to be? And how will they emerge, battered or better?In addition to the choices having to do with facing up to identity crises, and coping with losses real or theoretical, there are some other items here that are very well handled. Sweeney has painted a portrait of some elements of NYC at a particular place and time. These include a bit of a look at the local literary scene, whether one is doing well or struggling, in on the dot.com or killed by it, mean Glitterary Girl or faded sparkle. Authors, wannabes, publishers of paper and on-line magazines, trip through the pages. Some are more about appearance than substance. She’d been hiding in a corner of Celia’s enormous living room, pretending to examine the bookshelves, which were full of what she thought of as “fake” books—the books were real enough but if Celia Baxter had read Thomas Pynchon or Samuel Beckett or even all—any!—of the Philip Roths and Saul Bellows lined in a row, she’d eat her mittens. In a far upper corner of the bookcase, she noticed a lurid purple book spine, a celebrity weight-loss book. Ha. That was more like it. She stood on tiptoe, slid the book out, and examined the well-thumbed, stained pages. She returned it to shelf front and center, between Mythologies and Cloud Atlas. There is a walk through several places in the city, each offering a taste. The Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, a brownstone in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, a bit of Central Park, a Westchester suburb. 9/11 is a part of the story as well, as is, although to a lesser degree, the insanity that is the NY real estate market.The Nest is, ultimately, about stepping off the edge of safety into the air, and either finding out you can fly or flapping uselessly to a sudden end. And, of course, considering whether or not to simply hitch a ride on a passing pigeon. None of it would mean a lick if the characters were merely raucous chicks, lobbying for the next worm. Sweeney has put together more of an aviary, with each main member of her ensemble fully feathered and flight-worthy. Even a teen-age twin must consider separating from the intense co-nesting of sisterhood, and finding her own flight path. While not all the main characters are people you would care to know, they are all fully realized. Hell, even some of the secondary characters are presented in 3D. Their motivations and actions make sense, whether you agree or not with their decisions. There is nuance and depth even to the more morally challenged. I expect that you will find situations and/or conditions in here that resonate with challenges and decisions you have faced in your own life. The economic downturn has hit many of us, even if we need not look to our own reckless personal behavior as a cause. No need to wonder how most of us will behave when faced with some of the problems raised here. We have already adjusted our expectations. But there is value in seeing how others react. Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s last book was slightly different from this one, Country Living Easy Transformations: Kitchen With this book. Sweeney takes a step into the open air of literary accomplishment. She has spread her wings and caught a rising thermal. The Nest has not only succeeded in feathering Sweeney’s nest quite nicely, it offers a smart, funny, engaging, and insightful read that will accommodate your peepers quite nicely, and is sure to settle comfortably in many top ten nests lists when those finally begin appearing. Review first posted – 11/27/15Publication date – 3/22/16=============================EXTRA STUFFLinks to the author’s Twitter and FB pagesPlease do check out Ron Charles's review in the Washington PostThanks to GR friend Christine who, in comment #24, let us know that Sweeney did an interview with Seth Meyers. I am not sure how long it will be available, but you can find it here, for now. - As of November 2019, that one seems to have vanished, but you might want to check out this video from The Center for Fiction- Family Frictions: Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney and Jami Attenberg

The Nest centers around four adult siblings fighting over an inheritance that has been spent after one of them is involved in an accident. I can see why people may be disappointed with this book, the characters all have multiple flaws but for me that made the book more interesting. I enjoy having characters that make me feel conflicted. The writing was excellent also. There were way too many characters and I felt that the ending was anti climatic but I still enjoyed it. Might be because I really just liked the authors writing style and complex characters though because the plot wasn't anything fantastic.

A teen boy getting caught with his pants down, by the girls religious father, might have consequences and be embarrassing...such as what happened in the book "For the Love of Money", by Christopher Meades, but a 46 year old married man who has been avoiding his wife, who was barely speaking to him....( and who could blame her ...after catching Leo fondling the babysitter weeks earlier?), is beyond embarrassing and beyond a slap on the face from his wife Victoria. Many people in this novel will suffer the consequences from one night's cheating of hanky-panky. But I sit with the question...would these characters have struggled anyway? Is it possible Leo just got a head start? Leo, is in hot water within the first few pages of this book. While at a cousin's wedding with his wife Victoria, Leo starts seducing a waitress by the name Matilda Rodiquez. She's an aspiring singer ( mistake to tell Leo). Leo tells her he has connections to 'Columbia Records'. Of course Matilda had a demo with her. Leo maneuvers Matilda to his car. It didn't take long for Leo to take her hand and place it in his lap. ( she always remembered how he never stopped looking at her). Leo was high as a kite behind the wheel on drugs and booze. He never saw the SUV that crashed into his new Porsche with his pants unzipped. Problems are not just affecting Leo - his wife -child - and his personal punishment ( forced into rehab), ...but Leo is 1 of 4 siblings that is waiting their share of their inheritance. A trust fund was set by their father which was to be divided between the 4 siblings once the youngest sibling turns 40 years old. The siblings mother, executor of the will, ( The Nest), takes a chunk of the inheritance money to pay for Leo's rehab and pay off Matilda Rodriquez. Are you thinking..."what the f*#ck?"What kind of mother makes this decision without consulting the others? (whom also have children and needy issues). Melody has two twin daughters about to start college. Jack lives with his husband Walter ...and needs the money to get out of a financial jam he has hidden from Walter. Beatrice is also in financial need - struggling to finish a novel. Beatrice, Jack, and Melody, were each 'counting' on the amount of their money coming in -- the $500, 000 which they had prior knowledge of....was down to $50,000. The siblings got together to figure out ways to ha e Leo pay them all back. The longer I read this novel...I began thinking ... "Wow, Leo's 'pants down - accident -boo-boo' - was a VERY INTERESTING choice-accident. ALL the siblings had an edge of desperation to them. That old saying ...'don't put all your eggs in one basket' was a lesson that kept coming to the surface. It wasn't only Leo who made a bad choice. Each sibling had a weakness - and they also each had strengths. Over a years period of time -we see each of the different siblings points of views.I found this especially exciting and engaging - PAGE TURNING- as my first cousins are a family of 4 siblings. I'm very close to them. They grew up in mansion in Piedmont, California. I witness some similar drama that took place in this story from my cousins lives. Much in this novel feels very realistic. I went through some of these same feelings with - the 4 siblings- in Ann Packer's book, "The Children's Crusade". ( different story)...but also a family involving 4 adult siblings also dealing with issues needing to be solved together. Each of the characters in 'The Nest', were Multi dimensional. We get to know all the siblings and their lives equally. Cynthia D' Aprix Sweeney's novel is equally plot driven as it is character driven....making the perfect ingredients for a fabulous family fiction novel. Deeply affecting. At least one or more of these characters will resemble somebody in our own lives if not ourself directly. Their struggles- choices to face - are handled with complicated emotions- moral dilemmas- that make up our human experience. Sooooo Terrific!!! (I love family- complex novels- and "THE NEST", is TOP BANANAS!!) Thank You Harper Collins Publishing, and Cynthia D' Aprix Sweeney. ( great, great, great!)

This was a great read about four adult siblings all awaiting their share of the NEST (inheritance from their father). They aren't really involved in each other's life but as things don't pan out as expected, they come to appreciate each other and become close. There are also many other stories within the main story that really give depth to this novel. It had a lot of humor and compassion and was a joy to read.

Baby boomers are expected to play their part by succumbing to the looming wave of death — the Greatest Degeneration — and bequeathing some $16 trillion to their children over the next three decades. For princes and princesses of American aristocracy, these bittersweet transactions hold little suspense. But for upper-middle-class Americans balancing mortgage payments, tuition bills and retirement plans on a brittle tower of monthly paychecks, this bounty looms with the promise of salvation.If you find yourself overanticipating such financial relief, take a break from the death watch to read Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut novel, “The Nest,” a comedy of filial greed and affection. Here, in scenes both witty and tragic is a warning about what comes of waiting for . . . . To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”If only someone had said this to the Plumb siblings in Cynthia d’Aprix Sweeney’s entertaining first novel, The Nest, the characters would have been spared a lot of anxiety and humiliation.But then again, if they had heeded this advice, this highly readable book wouldn’t have been so gripping or cathartic.“The Nest” refers to the modest nest egg provided by the patriarch of the Plumb family, to be dispersed to the children when the youngest, Melody, turns 40.Because of some wise investments, the legacy has mushroomed in size, and, with the big date approaching soon, the adults – who all live in and around New York City – have been counting on the cash to get them out of their financial ruts.Melody, a suburban soccer mom type, is over-mortgaged and worried about paying for her twin daughters’ upcoming college tuition; Jack runs a failing antiques store in the West Village, and he’s kept his mounting debt (he’s borrowed against the equity of their summer home) from his more responsible husband, Walker; older sister Bea, who lives on the Upper West Side, was once a promising young fiction writer, but she hasn’t written anything in years and she’s been flailing. And then there’s Leo, the most glamorous, charismatic member of the family. He dabbled in publishing, made money with a magazine-cum-website venture, then ended up in a bad marriage.In the book’s prologue, a very drunk Leo picks up a teenage caterer at a wedding, unwisely gets in the car with her for some inebriated fun, and then ends up in a tragic accident. The result? The family has to hush up the news by paying off people, dipping into that nest egg and – surprise! – leaving the siblings with very little. Now they have to (excuse the pun but you knew it was coming) plumb the depths of their souls to examine their lives and see how they can get by with less.Sure, this is a brilliant premise, especially for today’s post-economic downturn, aging baby boomer world. It’s what Sweeney does with it that’s so impressive. Initially, her characters are all very unlikeable: entitled, spoiled, lazy. But the depletion of the nest forces them all to begin communicating with each other and confronting some brutal truths about their lives. They have a chance to redeem themselves. Will they rise to the challenge?It took me a while to get used to the book’s shifting narration. We don’t just get the perspectives of the siblings, but occasionally see things through the eyes of other people, including Melody’s daughters, Leo’s ex, Stephanie, and even Stephanie’s lodger. Gradually I saw what the author was doing, and then I tore through the book, curious to see how the plot would evolve and where these people would end up.The title of the long middle section of the novel (“The Kiss”) takes on lots of significance and weight as the book progresses, and made me admire Sweeney’s artistry. And there are some knockout scenes, including at least three parties (two birthday parties and one humiliating literary event) that I will never forget.The prose is polished and full of witty observations and heart; but despite what you’ve heard, it isn’t a laugh-a-minute satire. Sweeney wants to go deeper than that, and I can see why people are comparing the book to Franzen’s The Corrections. Still, there are some problems. The parents – especially the father – remain shadowy figures, although the mother occasionally pops in and there's a terrific flashback of her drunkenly presiding over one of her kids' birthday parties. And there's some bagginess to the writing, particularly near the end. Here, within two pages, are passages that essentially say the same thing:(view spoiler)[ If they knew about the statue, her death would become tainted by his actions, and he wouldn’t put his kids through another loss surrounding their mother.But if he exposed himself – accidentally or on purpose – he’d harm her memory for his kids. (hide spoiler)]But that’s quibbling. This is a highly readable, absorbing novel, worth all the attention it’s getting.And with Sweeney’s entertainment connections – her husband writes for Conan O’Brien’s show, she’s friends with Amy Poehler, who enthusiastically "blurbed" the book – you can bet your ass it’ll become a movie soon.Read the book first.

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeny is a 2016 Ecco publication. I became interested in this book when so many of my GR friends began posting reviews for it. So, although it didn’t sound like a book I would typically go out of my way to read, I decided to check it out of the library.In the beginning, I was unsure about the story, watching in shock and horror as the four Plumb siblings proceed to jockey for position, and work every angle imaginable to make sure they received their share of the “The Nest”, a nickname they devised for their inheritance. When the money is jeopardized by Leo, the other three siblings are left scrambling, since they had all been counting on that money. What follows is a sad set of morally questionable, spoiled adults, all in a state of arrested development, suddenly realizing they would have to sink or swim, walk the tightrope without a net, and as a result, they suddenly awake, as if from a long slumber, examining their lives, making monumental errors, some of which are out right criminal, pouting and whining, but in the end learning from their mistakes, and somehow manage to come out the other end as better, stronger, and more secure people. This book is wickedly dark, very clever, and unique and I can see why so many people were attracted to it. These characters are not likeable, especially in the beginning, as they have no depth, and are spoiled by wealth, and feel an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Although, some attempts were made to succeed, the siblings have an ‘easy come, easy go’ attitude toward failure since they will never have to worry about paying bills once they come into their trust. So, watching these insane people respond to the possibility they will not receive the amount of money they were expecting is certainly…er… interesting. Truly, I caught myself laughing a few times, but as the story moves along, it seems the one sibling causing all the turmoil now is responsible for much of the turmoil in the past, and would, it seems, continue on that path into the future. This raises some nice, thought provoking questions in the midst of the chaos, which gives the story some actual depth, despite the whimsical quality that took root towards the end. For me, this book was a little off the beaten path, and I can’t say I loved it as much as others did, but it was a fascinating change of pace, and I’m happy I gave it a try. 3.5

The Nest, Cynthia D'Aprix SweeneyThe Nest is the bestselling debut novel by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, published in 2016. Leo, Melody, Jack and Bea are four siblings of the Plumb family who live in and around New York. They are due to receive money from a trust fund, which they call the "Nest", when Melody, the youngest, turns 40. However, Leo's reckless actions at a wedding party means that funds need to be withdrawn from the Nest prematurely. This causes tension between the four siblings (Leo, Jack, Bea, and Melody).عنوانها: ارثیه پدری؛ آشیانه؛ نویسنده: سینتیا دآپریکس سوئینی؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و ششم ماه مارس سال 2018 میلادیعنوان: ارثیه پدری؛ نویسنده: سینتیا دآپریکس سوئینی؛ مترجم: پوران حسن‌زاده؛ تهران، شبگون؛ 1395؛ در 422 ص؛ شابک: 9786009572441؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 21 م‬عنوان: آشیانه؛ نویسنده: سینثیا دآپریکس سوئینی؛ مترجمها: فرشاد ذوالنوریان؛ انیسه ناجیان؛ تهران: نشر داستان‏‫، 1396؛ در 269 ص؛ شابک: 9786004810135؛ سینتیا دی آپریکس سویینی، با روشن‌ بینی و دلسوزی، به کند و کاو احساس جریحه‌ دار شده ی یک خانواده می‌پردازند، و تنهایی و آرزوهای ناممکنشان را که منعکس‌کننده ی تنهایی و آرزوهای همگان نیز هست آشکار می‌کنند. این رمان پر از رخدادهای ناباورانه و انسانیت جاودانه است. «ارثیه پدری» داستانی ست که مدت‌های پس از خوانش آخرین صفحه‌ اش، در ذهن خوانشگر خواهد ماند. نقل نمونه متن: «هیچ‌کس به یاد نداشت چه کسی اسم میراث را روی سرمایه‌ ی مشروط آن‌ها گذاشته بود، ولی به هر جهت این اسم رویش مانده بود. وقتی پدرشان لئونارد پلام بزرگ، تصمیم گرفته بود برای بچه‌ هایش سرمایه کنار بگذارد، ملودی فقط شانزده سال داشت. او مدام به آن‌ها می‌گفت: «چیز زیادی نیست. یه پس‌ انداز ناچیز، که خیلی دقیق سرمایه‌ گذاری شده، و به‌ موقعش بینتون تقسیم می‌شه، تا ازش لذت ببرین، نه این‌که بهره‌ برداری نادرست بکنین» سپس پدرشان توضیح داده بود، که تا قبل از چهل‌ سالگی کوچک‌ترین فرزند خانواده، یعنی ملودی، این پول قابل‌ دسترسی نیست. جک اولین کسی بود که به‌ وضوح و با دعوا به این نحوه‌ ی تقسیم اعتراض کرده بود، و می‌خواست بداند که چرا بقیه نمی‌توانند سهمشان را زودتر دریافت کنند، و این روش منصفانه نیست، چون حین تقسیم پول، ملودی از دیگر اعضای خانواده، بسیار جوان‌تر است، و دیگران زمانی که سهمشان را می‌گیرند، خیلی پیرتر از او هستند. ولی لئونارد به این‌که هر کسی چقدر پول و در چه سنی دریافت کند، خیلی فکر کرده بود.»؛ پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی