Reviews

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

jamienun's review

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4.0

Very interesting story about a family in Ireland dealing with secrets, lies, sexual orientation, climate change, prepping for the end of the world etc. Each family member has a section of the book which could really be four separate books (this is an extremely long book!). However, as the end of the book gets closer, each person’s story gets shorter and shorter until everyone is one page.

If you read this book and are a friend of mine, I’d love to chat about the end of this book!

kelmegter's review against another edition

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4.0

Wow. A little too long. But had some great, perfect lines. And is still just sitting with me. A professor once told me the value of the book isn’t if you “enjoyed” it. But if you continue to think about it. And so, likely a 4.5. Not enjoyable, but also couldn’t put it down.


“Maybe every era has an atrocity woven into its fabric. Maybe every society is complicit in terrible things and only afterwards gets around to pretending they didn’t know.”

“Today, in the developed world, the great threat to political order is that people will pay attention to their surroundings. Thus, even slaves have access to entertainment.”

alhedrick's review against another edition

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

4.5

ecconway's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hanltosh's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Squirrel 
2 bunker 2 many 

sebastianr's review against another edition

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

4.0

theplotthiccums's review against another edition

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

4.0

stinch's review against another edition

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challenging funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

The more distance I get from this book the more I love it. 

ablessma's review against another edition

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5.0

never had such an intense love/hate/love relationship with a book before :)

quinnjuliac's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book is amazing. I love when a story weaves in multiple generations with good reason. It’s essentially a story about misunderstandings between loved ones, and misunderstandings that go on for a long time and grow and morph into something else. Really wonderful book about families.