Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

13 reviews

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

earnest_hemming's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Complex and ambiguous read, covering a wide range of topics, relationships, and povs. I heard many good things about the book but felt as though it was very long for the developments it covers. Interesting description of characters and family tragedies with a very complicated ending.

A little unsure as to why the two non-Irish characters ended up being the main villains in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

This book felt like a real slog. I started reading this in January for a book club in February. Despite continually trying to chip away at the audiobook, I didn't finish it until August.

There's nothing wrong with it per say. It's long but mostly it was that it's one of those contemporary Irish books that I seem to have read a lot over the last few years, where it's a lot of repressed trauma and angst, then they chuck in some

homophobia

, someone

being raped

and/or

underage sex/drugs/alcohol

and call it a masterpiece. This had all of the above and it didn't add anything. But equally, without it would there even be a book? It's that kind of subgenre I suppose. That about sums up my experience with it I suppose. There were parts where I was curious to find out what happened next but I really, really didn't enjoy and the ending was abrupt but both the lead up and the ending were obvious. I didn't like any of the characters but they did feel well fleshed out.

I don't know. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood to be reading this. Though I'm not sure I'd ever be. You'd think over eight months there'd be a point you'd finally get into it but I didn't find that with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment

Potential child death

,

death of a sibling

mary_lake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

a beautifully written tragic and emotionally complex tale. i would highly recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

adawada's review against another edition

5.0

I really loved getting to know the main characters during the very long chapters. The second part of the book was quite a surprise when the narrative changes to a second person point of view but nevertheless I thought that it did add something to the story. I also really enjoyed most of the secondary characters and how they were involved in the story. The ending was slightly predictable but I enjoyed it just the same. I don't usually read long books but I'm so glad that I have read this! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

rei_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Sexual content, and Car accident

Minor: Pedophilia, Excrement, and Vomit

franceselsie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Drug use, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Stalking, and Car accident

mtferal's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It's a quintessentially Irish story about a family hurtling towards a collapse that could be avoided if they were simply honest with one another. I loved the way the characters were laid out from each others' perspectives, and how the shift in those perspectives filled in the gaps of each other's understandings and made each of their situations more relatable. At times it felt like Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" if it was written by an author who wasn't such an asshole and clearly loved his characters. 

To address some points from other reviews-- yes, it's long. I didn't feel it overstayed its welcome, or dragged on too long in any direction before switching to a different character or plot thread. There is indeed a 100+ page stretch with no punctuation, but there aren't any quotation marks on dialogue to begin with, and proper capitalization is maintained so I found it easy to follow. I thought this contributed to an overall dreamlike feeling that made that section particularly memorable, especially since it lays out much of the core trauma that drives the engine of the story.

I really can't recommend this one enough. It went down easier than a 600+ page book about Irish family trauma should. The ending is ambiguous but thought-provoking, and I bet a re-read would be rewarded with tons of details that foreshadow the author's true intent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and Pedophilia

misscaitie's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.5

Barely finished it. 600 pages of misery

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Dementia, and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

kk_gotit_goinon's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Oh my goodness this book. THIS BOOK. It's heart wrenching, it's tense, it'll keep you on the edge of your seat. Your heart will hurt. You'll be angry at a few people. But it's worth the ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol