Reviews with content warning for Classism - The Bee Sting

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Layered, ambitious, and gripping, The Bee Sting is 500 pages of family saga followed by 150 pages of literary thriller that we absolutely need. I hope it wins the Booker!

For you if: You like long books about characters that could step off the page as they break your heart.

FULL REVIEW:

I was excited to read The Bee Sting even before it was longlisted (now shortlisted) for the Booker Prize, thanks to this incredible plug in LitHub’s list of most anticipated 2023 books. While I recognize that this chonker isn’t going to be for everyone, it was absoLUTEly for me.

500 pages of family saga followed by 150 pages of literary thriller, The Bee Sting is layered, ambitious, and gripping. We are introduced to four members of a single family living in rural Ireland in the early 2010s: Cass, in her final days of high school; 12-year-old PJ, brilliant and largely friendless; Imelda, their mother trying to save them from the recession; and Dickie, their father, who makes his living as owner of the local car dealership that was once his father’s. With every person we meet, our understanding of all the secrets and dynamics between them deepens, until all that tension reaches an explosive, dizzying end.

I freakin love a family saga, especially the really well-done kind where the characters tug at me from deep in my gut (as this one does). I’m deeply impressed with how distinct and realistic each character’s voice was, especially the two children; Paul Murray is insanely talented at this part of his craft. I also really loved all the flashbacks, especially in Imelda and Dickie’s sections. I know some reviewers felt a bit whiplashed, but I found so much depth in them. In fact, I think they’re what really give those two characters to us, as readers, and I often didn’t want to return to the present at all. And WHEW, that ending. It took some contemplation for me to feel satisfied by it, but it’s clearly the right ending for this book.

There’s so much to say and unpack here, and a review only has so much space. But I’m so glad that the Booker of the Month book club got to read it together and discuss. I’m rooting for this one to win the Booker!

Content Warnings

reads_eats_explores's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Bee Sting opens with a tale of woe, “a man had killed his family” in another town, and “rumours swirled about affairs, addiction, hidden files on his computer.” Are these prophecies of what awaits the Barnes family, our multilayered protagonists?

The Barnes, oh, how can one small family have so many adversities to face? They live in an unnamed small Irish town and are struggling on so many levels; godawful for them but great for the storytelling.

In the wake of a recession, the Volkswagen dealership run by Dickie Barnes has seen sales plummet while also facing a surge in complaints about repair work. Does Dickie know more than he's letting on? In an effort to stick his head in the sand as far as the dubious business at the garage goes, he retreats into himself and the woodlands behind their house, where he attempts to create a ‘safe zone’ where they'll be safe when not if the shit hits the fan.

A disgruntled client’s son threatens to beat Dickie’s boy, PJ, with a hammer. PJ sinks deeper into loneliness and online gaming forums, where he gets befriended by a profile that reeks of malevolence.

PJ's sister, Cass, flounders with her capricious best friend, peer pressure, leaving cert stress and the demon drink.

Their mother, Imelda, bears the brunt of the neighbours’ schadenfreude. She stops her beloved online shopping (her one true joy) and worries that she has somehow caused this rake load of trouble through a family curse.

Told through these multiple points of view in chapters narrated by each character, we get the modern day tale with plenty of historical flashbacks thrown in.

These flashbacks mostly reveal the poverty and old passions that shade Dickie and Imelda’s rather uneasy marriage.

All the characters are well developed and paint their own grim picture, but for me, Imelda’s sections are the stand out highlights. They are structured in the stream-of-consciousness style that really draws you in, from her early years of violence and poverty down “piggery lane” to her current predicament.

In this tragicomic behemoth read, Murray shows a great talent for blending humour and pathos. Yes, we trudge from bad to worse, with Murray tirelessly concocting fresh anguish for the Barneses, but there's a good dose of quintessentially Irish humour along the way. 4.5⭐

Many thanks to Penguin Books Ireland for an advance copy. As always, this is an honest review.

Content Warnings

More...

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

danpeachey's review against another edition

mjairam2000's review

squintyfarmer's review against another edition

jessiedoodah's review against another edition

catberine's review against another edition

nicolaparty's review against another edition

deedireads's review against another edition

reads_eats_explores's review against another edition