The Nest

Leo’s younger brother, Jack, is keenly aware of growing up in Leo’s shadow. He feels as though he will always be the less charming, less dynamic, less successful brother. It may be partially because of the need to compete with his brother that Jack insists on living an upscale life—he relishes in fine clothing and a chic apartment, as well as other material possessions. Status and image are important to him. Unlike Bea, Jack is unsympathetic to Leo’s situation and demands Leo pay back The Nest immediately. He is assertive in following up with Leo’s plans to do so, going to Stephanie’s home unannounced in search of Leo. Jack, like Melody, is highly driven to keep his money trouble a secret from his partner and is willing to go to lengths considered unethical, such as mortgaging property without Walker’s permission and engaging in art sales in the underground economy. He is unapologetic for these actions and insists that his desperate situation justifies them.

Jack is a dynamic character who changes throughout the narrative. His financial crisis becomes a blessing in disguise. For instance, these woes draw him closer to Melody as the two share common ground. Likewise, Jack discovers he is happier without Walker when their relationship ends, realizing that permanently partnering at a young age prevented him from dating widely and discovering who he is. At the novel’s close, Jack is content with a more modest lifestyle and admittedly looks forward to learning more about himself without being in a relationship.

Melody Plumb, the youngest of the Plumb siblings, is a mild-mannered, married woman approaching 40. As the distribution of The Nest occurs upon her 40th birthday, she plays a central role in the plot and conflict. Many of her endeavors are focused on her teenaged twin daughters. She keeps close tabs on them using an app on her smartphone that tracks their whereabouts and cautions them about being careful in the city. Her care for them is evident, but she is protective and worrisome to a degree they find stifling. Melody is defined by her home—a stately fixer-upper in a posh neighborhood. Despite the house being more than the family could truly afford, she convinced her husband to purchase it and has spent years restoring and improving it. Its elegant appearance mirrors the way Melody wishes to be perceived by her peers—comfortably upper middle-class. She views her daughters as an extension of herself, striving to equip them with the best of everything money can buy, including expensive educations. The trappings that Melody surrounds herself with, however, are merely a guise, as she cannot truly afford the life she lives. The mothers of her daughters’ school friends presume that Melody and Walter are quite wealthy, not knowing that Melody’s dynasty is dependent on The Nest.

The loss of The Nest devastates Melody, as it threatens to destroy the life she has spent nearly two decades building. She is highly anxious and fearful at the thought of losing her home and being unable to provide the college education she has promised her daughters. She views Leo’s actions as selfish, ironically focusing on the loss they inflict on her. Though Melody has scrimped and saved in some respects, her reasons for doing so parallel Jack’s: She is driven to create an external image that garners her the admiration of outsiders and her peers. Though her husband attempts to help Melody face reality, she is disillusioned, holding out unrealistic hope that Leo will eventually repay his debt. When it becomes clear in Part 3 that this will never occur, Melody sulks. It is only after Melody is forced to face the loss of her house that she begins to understand that she and her nuclear family have different goals. She changes and grows by gradually learning to let go of the dream and vision she has clung to for herself and her daughters, realizing that the cliché “money does not buy happiness” has proven true.

Unlike her siblings, Bea Plumb does not strive to wear the latest fashions nor fit in among the stylish Manhattan elites. Fulfilling the trope of a stereotypical writer, she is quirky and eccentric, living alone and somewhat still mourning the death of her long-time partner. She is content with the modest apartment he has left to her and, compared to her siblings, lives a simpler life in which she does not covet material goods or wealth. Her work at Paul Underwood’s magazine Paper Fibres is unglamourous and rather grueling, and Bea occasionally turns to marijuana to cope with the stress it brings. As someone who has worked closely with Leo in a professional capacity in the past, she knows and understands him in ways that others cannot. This is partially why she is less harsh regarding his mistakes than Melody or Jack. Bea values Leo’s expertise in the writing world and trusts his opinion on her writing, seeking his guidance and approval. Notably, too, Bea is the only of Leo’s siblings who has not structured her life around their presumed inheritance.

As the novel opens, Bea regards herself as past her prime and beyond her heyday, having failed to carry out a successful literary career despite the modest success of her initial book. Gradually, however, Bea grows optimistic about the revival of her literary career. With the accolades of Stephanie and what she perceives as Leo’s acknowledgement that the new work is promising, Bea gains momentum to reassert herself professionally. In a reversal, at the novel’s close she has entered into a new romantic relationship and faces promising new-found literary success. In this way, Bea’s situation foils that of Melody and Jack, who face financial and personal setbacks as the novel closes.