Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

4 reviews

makayla_radford's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had a lot more expectations for this book going into it based on many of the reviews. The concept of it sounds great, and really the plot itself was captivating and kept me coming back to the book. 

That said there were some things I found very distracting while I was reading. The book is centered around the 2008 financial crisis, but there are constantly references to things that did not exist/were not commonly used at the time such as Twitch or Instagram. Additionally there were subplots that never actually received conclusions which continued to distract me from the main story.

I have to disagree with many other reviews though since I actually liked the ending. I felt it was fitting for the book and boosted it up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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207tennis's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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ronanmcd's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's a book about being human. About being alive, and having faults. It's a book about Ireland, as it is.
It's brilliant. You don't read it but fall in.
Some notes:
It's an indictment of Ireland that when characters are having a conversation, one that doesn't affect the narrative and is in to show their are going about their everyday, it's always about possessions; who has what, who wants what, who's getting this or that. Observed from life, this is how we talk now.
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By a certain point the book reflects painfully on the reader. Over time we have begun to identify with the characters, to such a point that we fully agree when one character is being urged to murder. It seems fair, it's logical. This is something that shows just how powerful fiction can be. It's immense.
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It's such an absolute experience. We become fully engaged with each character. Immersed in the book, it's hard to look away and see real life in front of us and distinguish fact from fiction. It's disorientating. Deeply.
It's all goes very King Lear in the confusion of the crashing rain at the end, typeset as drama. We are left feeling it was foolish ever to be hopeful.
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reads_eats_explores's review against another edition

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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.
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