My library system (which I love dearly and for so many reasons!)
has a “Lucky Day” program that can help you score a new, popular title that
would normally require a months-long hold wait and go home with it that day. I’ve
gotten a couple of books this way, but the 7 day limit with no holds or
renewals sort of cramps my style – I generally won’t have enough time to
finish. (I really enjoyed the 2 or three essays I finished from last Lucky book
– Neil Gaiman’s View from the Cheap Seats, which I read on a very hectic day in
June. I didn’t come close to finishing the book, but they provided just the
respite I needed for a day that I may eventually blog about. Maybe I should check
out more essay collections?
During last week’s epic pre-birthday library visit, I found
an available copy of The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. It had been on my
hold list forever and so I was a bit excited to take it home. From the first
page, I was hooked. It tells the story of four siblings, Leo, Jack, Beatrice,
and Melody who are all eagerly awaiting a sizable inheritance (the “Nest”) that
will finally be theirs in just a few months. When Leo, the oldest brother, has
a terrible accident that decimates the Nest, the other siblings freak out. They
had all made financial choices that would have been erased once they inherited,
but all that is now in jeopardy.
I thought this was a smart, funny, thoughtful book. The
sibling interaction was very interesting to me; I saw parts of myself and my
own 3 siblings in each of them. I was particularly interested in the youngest,
Melody, who’s a bit of an anxious control freak. Her frenetic overthinking and
planning and worrying – well, I can’t imagine why that would seem familiar to
me. Near the end, she has this moment as she turns 40 and she realizes that
what used to work just doesn’t anymore, and she has to start letting go of
things held too firmly, of control over her husband and twin daughters, of
perceptions of her relationships with her siblings, and her definition of what
it means to be a successful parent. I really loved Melody on the entire novel,
and I was cheering her on with her new direction and realization of her place
in the world and her family as the novel ended.
I don’t know that this book is for everyone. But the writing
was great, the subject matter was refreshing, and, best of all, the length was
perfect, since I finished it in the allotted 7 days, and so I might not even
incur fines for it. Lucky day indeed.
