The Nest

by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

This book is on a lot best seller, recommended reading lists.

It is the story about a family of siblings who had been expecting to receive a small inheritance when the youngest of them reached 40.  However, most of the money has been spent by their mother to bail their brother out of an embarrassing accident.  He was a successful business person, having sold a dot com company but was a philanderer.  He leaves a party with a young waitress and they get in an accident and the young girl loses one of her feet.  The man had forgotten to pay his car insurance.  The mother has paid off the medical bills for the girl and paid her off too.

The other family members are furious and want to meet with there brother to get his agreement to pay them back.  He has gone through a very costly divorce after the accident and his former wife got everything including probably some money from the "nest" also.  He agrees to come back with a plan to repay them but doesn't

The other family members are not wealthy.  One sister has an expensive house and wants to send her twin daughters to college.  She was counting on the nest to be able to do this.  Another sister had the potential to be a great author but hasn't succeeded and works at a magazine.  Another brother, a homosexual, owns a not very successful antiques business and has borrowed against his and his spouses beach house to keep afloat.

At first I didn't think I was going to feel sorry or like any of the characters but over time as you get to know them and as they come to realize they will never get the money they wanted back (their brother has skipped out of the country with a nest egg of his own he had in an offshore account) you see them start to analyze and adjust their lives.  The man has also left behind a baby from a relationship he rekindled after his marriage breakup.  One of the sisters actually has contact with the injured girl and helps her get in touch with agencies that can help her with future prosthetics etc. as she has spent/given away most of her award to family, etc.  For the most part the characters are probably happier at the end of the book than they were at the beginning.  We don't know the fate of the brother who caused all the problems, he is hiding, alone, on a tropical island. I thought it was an interesting story.