The Nest

by Paul Jennings

I hear a dragging sound followed by my father's limping appearance at the door.I look at him in horror.He's starting at me, glasses askew, waving the birds' nest.'You imbecile.  You left me hanging there.What were you trying to do?  Kill me?'If only he knew.  I'm not trying to kill him.I'm trying not to kill him!'The tender yet unsparing depth of characterisation in the novel is matched by the limped beauty of the writing, the sensual evocation of the snowfields setting and the compelling nature of the story.'Weekend Australian'A dark, gripping tale.' The Age'The ending is a dramatic as they come.'Sydney Morning Herald

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Mystery

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Paul Jennings was born in Heston near London, and at the age of 6 emigrated to Melbourne, Australia on a boat. He was on the boat for 5 weeks with his family. He attended Bentleigh West Primary School and Caulfield Grammar School.

After graduating from school, he went to Frankston Teachers College (now part of Monash University) and became a teacher. He taught students at Frankston State School, Kangaroo Flat State School, the Turana Youth Training Centre, and the Royal Children's Hospital State School in Mount Eliza. He later went on to study at the Lincoln Institute of Health Science (now part of LaTrobe University) and became a speech pathologist, then worked as a Lecturer in Special Education at Burwood State College (now part of Deakin University). In 1979 he became Senior Lecturer in Language and Literature at Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education (now part of Deakin University).

In 1985, Jennings' first book of short stories, Unreal! was published, during which he worked as a lecturer and wrote part-time; in 1989, he made the decision to devote his full time to writing. Many of his short stories, published between 1985 and 1991, were also adapted into the first and second series of the popular Australian television show Round the Twist.

Winner of the Dromkeen Medal (2000).

Reviews

[Jordy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up i always saw Paul Jennings as an author that writes stories for children for laughs and smiles. That was however, until i discovered The Nest. This novel had me thinking the entire time and had me shocked reading the ending. The characters especially Robin is extremely interesting and the book was in general just a good read.

[Read_instead]

Paul Jennings departure from the curious and quirky is not altogether successful. As an avid reader of Paul Jennings from childhood, I expected more from 'Nest'. Robin is a blank sort of character - I envisioned him in 2D. The motivation for characters behaviour and their connections to each other felt very flimsy. The dark twist the tale took was over too briefly. I found this really disappointing.

[Zali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally fucking read it. Robin sucks, so does everyone else but the twist is decent I’ll give it that.

[Laura Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s such a different vibe from his normal writing and can seem a bit dark at times. It was such an easy read and could have probably finished it easily within a day. The story is clever and unfolds in front of you as you read. It’s nothing like a Paul Jennings book I used to read in Primary school, but it is just as good. I would highly recommend it if you’re in a reading slump because you fly threw it easily and is a story to easy to absorb.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book. I've been wanting to read a good YA book for a while now.

[Cyrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

the story followed a pretty relatable protagonist who i enjoyed seeing the stories point of view from, had an interesting ending

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit weird but an easy enjoyable read.

[Snork · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what this book is, I am pleasantly surprised. The book is fairly relatable. I guess I see it as somewhat basic, but nonetheless, I didn't hate it.

[Komal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to read this book because I wanted a short read for the long weekend and I have read really funny and gruesome books by Paul Jennings before.
The setting of the story was definitely interesting for me because it was set in a cold, snowy and desolate area and I haven't read a book with that type of setting yet.
I also liked the character 'Verushka' as soon as she was mentioned because she is a strong minded and beautiful girl. She is adored and has a seductive cling about her. I also like her name. She is exotic.
"I suddenly feel apprehensive as my words turn to smoke and curl up the chimney." I liked this quote from the book because it is a really good play on words.
By reading this book I thought differently about parents and the different ways of raising a child also that everyone has different ways of showing love.

[Josephine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story starts out with a passage that you do not understand. Throughout the novel the author refers back to this passage, and little by little you start to understand it more. In that sense I think this novel is unique. The main character is kind of dark and full of flaws, but I think because of that we can connect to him more easily. My favorite part of this novel was reading the short stories the main character wrote, because he was actually writing metaphors about the actual plot, and the interpretations were really interesting.

[John Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, it was a good read. I read it all in about 3 hours, so it's not a long book, about 300 pages I think. I'm not sure if it was meant to be relatable, but it was for me. Not a lot of character development, it was more plot driven. The main character was a writer so the book was littered with the mc's stories, which subconsciously reflected him as a person, which made for some interesting plot development.

[Jess - The Tales Compendium · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennings' first attempt at young adult fiction is beautifully written and intriguing. It is dark and philosophical and examines relationships, personal demons and the emotionally grey areas of life. It is about the past and how essential it is to know the truth, no matter how painful it may be. Ages 15+

[Kareena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed after reading this book. I was expecting the humor and well written characters that appear in all of his other stories but there is none. It lacks humor and the characters seem shallow and quick to judge. Two stars because it's Paul Jennings but as a word of advice for him, please stick to childrens stories. They're more popular then you might think.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly amazing read. The story flowed easily and the characters were believable.
This story touched a lot of personal chords and gave me much needed insight into my own thoughts and actions.
Brilliant! Mr Jennings! Just brilliant!

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this disturbing, and the female characters were cardboard cutouts. The handling of mental illness was done well, through story, but the story always felt humorous somehow, like the character wasn't being taken seriously

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it for an english assignment and it was really hard to like in the beginning but I got sucked in at the end and it was quite a nice read, but still difficult to get into, most likely because of my reading preferences.

[★ Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

remarkable.
Paul Jennings never fails to impress.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to make of this book.

[Morningdew_C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to this book I found my most favourite genres in reading books! I just love how the romance in this book develops overtime. A book you may want to read if your into romance genres.

[Rachael]

I didn't guess the mystery

[Anthea Carta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great, but I don’t usually like YA much.

[Trisha]

I breezed through this - too quickly to appreciate it I suspect.

[Jann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an easy read, in my opinion, and I had an enjoyable time reading it.

[Leeanne McHarg]

Didn’t finish very hard to follow!!