Nest, by Esther Ehrlich, caught me off guard as I felt myself breaking down into tears – both happy and sad – throughout the novel. The story follows Naomi, better known as Chirp because of her fascination with birds, and Rachel, sisters with a mere two year gap between them. When their tight-knit family starts to come undone, these two sisters fall into two very different yet crucial roles for their family. The knot that tied the family together slowly unravels, spreading thin, turning into ash before the sisters’ eyes.
We get to witness the way family brings them happiness, support, love, dancing, and pizza, and we also get to see how family can bring them loss, despair, fear, and stress. This family’s journey is an emotional roller-coaster I would love to relive.
I have fallen madly in love with the young Chirp, who has trouble accepting what is going on under her own roof. She is by far the most confused about the situations even though her father is very verbal about current occurrences. All she wants to do is shut everything out and run away, watch the birds as they sing their songs, swim, and jump out of the water with their quirky sense of style that Rachel is kind enough to give the reader insight about.
This heartfelt novel left me wanting more, in a good way – I did not want it to end, but was eager to see what would happen next. I witnessed Naomi’s acceptance of the truth, but I know there is more to her story than what I was able to witness through my own imagination. This novel caught me by surprise; I wasn’t expecting so many emotional moments to be hiding between the pages, and I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with Naomi the way I did.
Family is a bond that is hard to erase. We model ourselves and our personalities around our family’s, whether we want to be like our mom, our dad, our sister, our brother or the complete opposite of who they are. Either way, we find ourselves with them as our starting point, and this is why this novel hits so close to home. When the family suffered, I suffered, and when the family experienced a miracle, I felt faithful. All in all this family felt real to me, and I wish it never had to end. If you are ready for an emotional roller-coaster this is the book for you, because no review can bring you the experience reading this novel can!
Rating: 10/10
Pub: Sept. 9, 2014
Source: NetGalley
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