Who doesn’t feel a sense of the familiar when faced with the dubious ‘fun’ in dysfunctional, especially when we read or hear stories of ragtag members of a family battling it out over money, eccentricities or parental approval? Combining all such considerations are the Plumb siblings: narcissistic, self-absorbed, money-minded and failing to grasp the edges of success. The novel has all the makings of a spectacularly tragic family drama; four Plumb children — Leo, Beatrice, Jack and Melody — who are unable to talk to one another without a hard drink beforehand; a prized nest-egg for a rainy day that creates a storm a little too early; and a mother so far removed from her offspring’s needs that their very distinct eventualities fail to impact her.

The bickering and acid-tipped grudges start when the charismatic yet fantastically flawed Leo Plumb disregards the decorum required at a family wedding and, with a nubile young waitress in tow, leaves in his Porsche looking for a good time. It is then that he crashes the car in a haze of drugs and inebriation, forever changing the course of his life and that of his siblings.

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney neatly irons the creased fabric of this family in what is undoubtedly a telling read, poignant in places least expected and acerbic in the nooks and crannies wherein hide many secondary yet equally important characters. At the heart of The Nest lies a trust fund set up by Leonard Plumb Sr. that grows exponentially with generous fluctuations in the stock market. It is this sizeable wealth that allows the Plumb siblings to imagine a life less ordinary, and allows them to plan for and depend on money they will be able to get their hands on only when the youngest, Melody, turns 40. Leo’s crash catapults him from his Porsche and into a divorce from his estranged wife, with a huge chunk of the nest’s money spent on his rehabilitation and added expenses. Only then does the actual fun start.

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney explores issues of sibling rivalry and long-held grudges in her first novel

Melody needs the money to get her twin daughters through college, Jack needs to pay back a loan taken out against the mortgage on his beach house shared with long-time partner Walker, and Beatrice needs to publish her bestseller to regain the favour of New York’s glitterati. All that would be possible if only Leo hadn’t given in to reckless abandon.

Sweeney has craftily combined sardonic humour, jaded urban lives, sibling rivalry and financial constraints to form a story anyone subjected to any one of the above factors can relate to. Who doesn’t have money problems, ties they don’t comprehend, a position in the family that is as sure as the inheritance coming their way?

The Nest follows the Plumb siblings through not just their yearning for the bequest, but also through the devastations of people existing on the fringes of their lives, from children bursting onto the confused stage of their own sexual awakenings to the introverted neighbour who hides their own tragic secret. There are subplots and secondary characters, offshoot narratives tightly linked to the plight of the Plumbs and hidden eccentricities of fatigued New Yorkers.

Where The Nest fails to deliver in completely loveable protagonists, it makes up for in the sheer fragility of their humanity. No one is perfect and neither are the players in this saga, but that is what adds to their charm, their retractable etiquettes and their honest human failings. Hurtling from condescension to understanding, irresponsibility to compromise, the Plumb siblings come to life in a way that is relatable even if slightly detestable. This is a quick, palatable read, a look at a family with precious little oil to grease their rusted heartstrings.

THE NEST
(NOVEL)
By Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Ecco Press, New York
ISBN: 978-0062414212
368pp.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, July 31st, 2016