The Nest

As the book opens, we are introduced to the horrible Plumb siblings. Avaricious New Yorker who've borrowed against a massive shared trust coined The Nest, that has been held for them until the youngest turns 40. When they find the Nest has been spent to quiet an incident involving brother Leo, a crashed Porsche and a waitress that was certainly not his wife, their lives begin to spin apart.

These are horribly unlikeable New York urbanites. Everyone is obsessed with what others might think - how they present to the world. Melody is overprotective and adamant about her twin girls attending the right college. Paul has been borrowing behind his husband's back to try and keep his antique shop afloat, confident in the Nest's ability to bail him out. Bea is a stalled writer who has been coasting on her early success for over a decade without producing anything.

And from there, like some Manhattan based Marquez novel, we're introduced to at least a dozen minor characters involved in the lives of the Plumbs. To Sweeney's credit she manages to juggle them all and keep them clear in my head - but it began to feel like an operatic romance novel with it's myriad plot lines and machinations rendered in brief glimpses.

I appreciate that the ending isn't entirely pat but it does render most everyone in a nice glossy patina of hope like some Hugh Grant ensemble movie.