Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

71 reviews

abernathy_33's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Car accident

Minor: Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, and Vomit

songforcarol's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

One of the most interesting books I've ever read (in a good way) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia and Pedophilia

amyvl93's review against another edition

dark funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Family sagas are my jam and so The Bee Sting was destined to be enjoyable for me. Set in a small Irish town, we follow the Barnes family. One time minor celebs of the town due to them running the local care dealership and repair shop, the recession is starting to disrupt their lives and sends the family into a tailspin.

We have Cass, a teenage overachiever in thrall to her best friend Elaine even where this may lead her astray; PJ, her younger brother who finds more comfort in online communities than in person; Imelda, their mother desperate for a life unlike the one she had growing up and Dickie, their father whose secrets will soon pitch them all into disaster.

Paul Murray did an excellent job of crafting characters that felt entirely believable, especially his teenage characters who were complicated, and likeable and unlikeable all at once. I found the mirroring of the past throughout the novel to be really interesting - we see our young people coming dangerously close to repeating the mistakes of their parents, and then maybe not. The setting that the novel takes place in also again felt very well drawn - I really got a sense of the place and the community through the (many) pages of this book.

It is a bit of a brick of a novel, and there were definitely times were it felt like the text could have been trimmed without losing any of the nuances of the novel; we spend perhaps too much time in flashbacks when he point of the sequences had already been very well established. However, I was engaged enough with the characters that I didn't want to put the book down. The ending is ambiguous, if that's something that is a dealbreaker, but it did make me say 'oh my God' out loud. Really enjoyed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

kluhhtz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse

danpeachey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Dementia, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nreyno's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

Never read a book more deserving of 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

mybestfriendisabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

4.25

my biggest read yet that i picked up on a whim. tense especially towards the end. fascinating how all the characters were intertwined. i need to know more about the ending! cons of reading a large book is that you’re so invested and that it will always stay with you. dark, messy and really sad, but witty at times. felt like a dark tense movie with the slow buildup. 

real con is the character that didn’t use punctuation, that was challenging and dreadful to read 😩 felt like i could finally breathe when that was over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, and Abandonment

jaini056's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Brilliantly fleshed out characters , I felt like I could relate to each one of them and could easily read more about them. I also really enjoyed how each person experiences the same event differently  and writing from different perspectives allow us to appreciate that ! Really loved all the themes in the novel including sexuality, consent, climate change, family and human relationships! Loved the first 4/5th of the book,  not sure about the last 1/5th or so and the ending. Not a huge fan of it. Could've been better. Also not sure what the point of some of the secondary storyline and perspectives right at the end was.... overall a very enjoyable reading experience though!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

amberjelfs's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

26 HOURS OF LISTENING FOR THAT ENDING?

This was my first audiobook set in Western Europe - I was happy to hear various narrators with accents that properly represented the characters. Great switch ups between characters to build up the story and develop how they’ve reached where they currently are and the entanglement of all the characters.

However, I found that the ending fell short for such a long read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use

ariannabis26's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Car accident

Minor: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship