"'In her intoxicating first novel, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney has written an epic family story that unfolds in a deeply personal way. The Nest is a fast-moving train and Sweeney's writing dares us to keep up. I couldn't stop reading or caring about the juicy and dysfunctional Plumb family.'"
-Amy Poehler, Author of Yes Please in her review of The Nest
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I guess sometimes it pays to ask a famous person to say something positive about the book that you have written. The people who wrote brief reviews of The Nest on the back jacket of the book are Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jami Attenberg, Bret Anthony Johnston, and Matthew Thomas. All of them are published authors but I don't wholeheartedly agree with what they said. While I do agree with Poehler that The Nest is "a fast-moving train," for me, personally, it was more like a "train wreck." The book is clearly organized in an interesting way as it goes back and forth between characters and their pasts, but most of the characters are so dysfunctional that I just could not enjoy this book. Does a good story have to have curse words, abusers, and dark characters who do whatever they please, no matter how horrific their actions are? I just don't get it. To call this family "dysfunctional" is to put it very mildly because they are much more than that. They are a train wreck, a total mess, a reminder that our communities may be filled with people who think and act like this. I just don't enjoy this kind of subject matter. That's just who I am - an old fuddy-duddy, I guess, and I'd rather read a book about imperfect characters who argue about their inheritance without using filthy language and acting out in immoral ways. But that's just me. I'm going to try out my first book club this week, and The Nest was chosen as our first book for discussion, so I'll report back about what the other people thought. Sure, I can look past my beefs about this book to see the literary value in it, but I just didn't enjoy or appreciate the characters very much. Yes, the book is well-written - it must be or it would not have been a New York Times Bestseller.
Last time I shared about my travel experiences to Alabama and Kentucky. I told you about my visit with my friend in the Birmingham area and the day trips that we took. As you may recall, we went to the home of Helen Keller and the hometown of Harper Lee. I can't remember when I enjoyed something this much, the opportunity to learn about some people whom I regard as heroes. While I knew a lot about Keller and Lee, I learned so much more about them than what I had learned in books and on the internet. So, Lauretta, thank you for taking me to these places so that I could learn more about two incredible people!
June 30-July 4 I was at church youth camp at Ridgecrest Conference Center in the N.C. mountains. We were there for four nights. Our church had ten teenagers and three adult leaders. The teenagers had a wonderful time in all of their activities such as worship, Bible study, meals, ministry sites, and recreation. Some of you may be familiar with this camp, Mission Fuge, or M-Fuge as it is called for short. Was I sleep-deprived? Yes. Were the girls housed in Royal Gorge at the very top of the housing units, causing us to have the furthest to walk to all activities? Yes! But in spite of the challenges that we faced, I enjoyed being in the mountains and having some time to enjoy the breeze, rocking chairs, and the Nibble Nook. Some of you have been to Ridgecrest, so you know how special of a place that it is.
I've been spending a lot of time getting my daughter's bedroom converted to an "adult" room now that she is married. I've been preparing things for a yard sale, donating items, and organizing the closet. Right now I'm trying to sell the entire bedroom set, so if you know of anyone who is interested in a cream-colored pine bedroom set for a girl, message me on FB. I cleaned out the shed earlier in the summer and had loads of junk hauled off to the junkyard, so it's been apretty produtive time of organizing some of the things around the house.
I hope you're finding a way to get some relief from the extreme heat and humidity that we are all experiencing across the U.S. It's gotten to the point that I dread running errands because I just don't want to get out in the heat. Even Nilla, our 10 year old beagle-mix rescue, does not want to walk very far. She knows it's summer, that's for sure. It seems much hotter here than in the mountains, of course, so I was spoiled. Maybe someday we will live in the mountains or own a small rustic cabin where we can escape the city heat.
Let me know your thoughts on The Nest, Ridgecrest, the heat, or whatever else you want to talk about. I'm definitely listening!
-Melissa Hill
Book Blogger
www.onegoodbookblog.blogspot.com
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