The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Product Details
Web ID: 17073607Great Read
There was definitely a lot of complexity going on in this novel and it switches pov's between each of the family members throughout. There were definitely some parts that I enjoyed more than others. I found Imelda's sections to be a struggle to get through as she was the weakest written character. The ending though was one of the best I have read in a while. Everything comes to a head and even the formatting changed which was something a bit unique. This was quite the undertaking, but I am glad I stuck it out to the end. I want to read more from this author in the future. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
The Sting of the Tiger
“The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray– a celebrated Irish author, longlisted for this year’s Booker prize – of course I had to read it! Then, being 656 pages, I had to wonder what I had committed to. This is a family saga, told from the point of view of four of the household members (at least, initially). The Barnes family is reeling from the economic crash following Ireland’s Celtic Tiger boom. The father, Dickie, runs the family’s car dealership and things are bleak. His wife, Imelda, is introduced as a fashionable beauty who is appalled at her husband’s recent business failures and does not let him forget it. She has resorted to selling off the family’s goods on Ebay. Not only are the finances plummeting– maybe just as importantly– so is their standing in the community. Ever since the days when Dickie’s father, Maurice, succeeded building the business, townsfolk have viewed the family as a bit high and mighty. People are now savoring the fall from grace as the family seems to disintegrate. The first two sections are told from the children’s viewpoint. We meet Cass, in high school and making her plans to run off to Trinity College in Dublin. Her brother, PJ, is in grade school and is plotting his own runaway escape. While there is great care taken to draw out these characters, the portrayal of the parents, especially the father, seems flat through the children’s eyes. Once we get to the parents, however, the world starts opening up. Prior to this, the parents seem no more dimensional than a 1950’s television sitcom family. We get the background on Imelda– brought up in a rough childhood and uneducated, she had her heart set on a fairytale future where she was going to be rescued by a Prince Charming. This section of the book is told in a stream-of-consciousness manner, almost completely void of punctuation, in a manner reflecting her lack of education. This might seem annoying at first, but this device effectively relays her moods and emotions. Up until this point, Dickie scans as a rather bland and ineffectual father figure– boring! His background is quite a bit different than his children are aware of. It seemed he embraced the role of husband, father, and dull businessman while completely abandoning the path his life wanted to run. Daddy has a past. Daddy has secrets. The characters are wonderful, believable, and easy to sympathize with. As each one tells the story we get details the others are not aware of, much like a “Rashomon.” As the story returns to events we are enlightened– it dawns on us why characters have been acting as they have, in part due to these black holes in the family’s understanding of each other. There is a fifth section, told in second person. Here we rapidly switch from character to character with Cass now in college, PJ struggling to keep his parents together, Imelda feeling conflicted over an attempted seduction, while Dickie has thrown himself whole-heartedly into converting a family shed into a survivalist / end-of-days shelter for a future catastrophe. A real confrontation builds when a shadowy villain steps forward to force a crucial, life-changing call to action. Again, a very long book. It moved along quickly for me as the revelations fleshed out the characters and kept my interest. I am conflicted about the final section of the book. I did not like it at first— and I have seen some reviewers openly hostile to the way it was handled. On second reflection, I see what Paul Murray was doing… it was just a little jarring after the careful pinpoint layering upon layering in the bulk of the telling. Still, an excellent read… the character building was brilliant. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Peeling the layers of an onion
Is it possible to pinpoint the exact moment when your life took a downward trajectory? Dickie and Imelda Barnes think that all started with their ill-fated wedding, but perhaps it was much earlier than that. The fact of the matter is, that after almost twenty years together, everything for them is looking bleak. Dickie’s car dealership—the very one which made his father a fortune, and whose great sales financed the Barneses’ lavish lifestyle—has been going under for a few years. Imelda blames Dickie, as do the kids, Cass and PJ. Surely, if Maurice (Dickie’s father) came back from his retirement in Portugal, and issued them a sizable loan, Dickie would be able to right the ship… But can he, or does he want to? The family business may be in trouble but there are plenty of other things going on beneath the surface: 1) Cass - consistently among the top of her class, chooses to let loose in the last year of high school, right before her final exams, following in the footsteps of her best friend, Elaine. She now binge-drinks, and does drugs and sex. 2) PJ - is being bullied nonstop, and his closest friends don’t want anything to do with him due to the change of economic circumstances in his family. Feels neglected and is plotting with an online friend to flee home. 3) Imelda - who comes from a broken background (physical violence and thievery as a way of life for the father and siblings), may be on the verge of having an affair. 4) Dickie - his distant past, and his most recent one, are catching up to him. These four lives, and those of a few other key players’, will collide on an unforgettable night. Paul Murray plunged right into the story, with no character dump, which, given the length of the book, was very considerate. The story reflects a seasoned writer at the peak of his game. A novel in two parts, with an all-knowing narrator, The Bee Sting is a slow-burn and intricate character study that starts on a light note, almost as a satire, but it gets increasingly darker in tone as the foundations on which the Barnes family was built (tragedy, lies or half-truths, secrets) start to peel off layer by layer. Murray mixes grammatical structure and narrative styles, each chapter reflecting each personality and view point— messenger texts (PJ), lack of punctuation (Imelda’s), Cass’s narrative in second person, singular, as is occasionally PJ’s, especially in the second part. Towards the end, each character’s narrative becomes more recurrent, briefer, and lacking previously established patterns, lending a thriller-esque quality to the ending. Despite being a meticulous character study, The Bee Sting has a can’t-look-away-from-this-mess quality that makes for compelling reading. Coincidences towards the end do not detract from an unforgettable, if not entirely fulfilling, climax. Thanks to the publisher for granting me access to an advanced digital copy via Netgalley.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Paul Murray is Back!
The Bee Sting is a beautiful return to form for Paul Murray, whose previous novel Skippy Dies found a cult following and a place on the Booker Prize longlist. But with The Bee Sting, rather than a boys' prep school, Murray hones in on a single family. The Barnes family has been one of the renowned socialite clans within their small town in Ireland: The husband Dickie owns and operates a car showroom and garage while his wife, Imelda, plays the role of trophy wife. Their daughter Cass is college-bound to Dublin, while the youngest, PJ, immerses himself in video games. One by one, however, each member of the Barnes family finds their lives upturned when the family car dealership goes under. This is after the 2008 economic crash after all, and when money becomes tight, everyone--including the Barneses--will do anything to hold onto a semblance of sanity. The Bee Sting is a showcase of an author having fun. He perfectly balances humor and drama on the edge of a knife, just as any great tragicomedy should. Not only do the characters each feel alive and fully dimensional, the prose is also some of the most lush and entertaining to read that I've seen in recent months. Murray plays with form to emphasize each character's plights and problems, and it keeps the tension high and the pages turning. The term 'tour-de-force' is often overutilized to describe something new and exciting, but it's honestly the *only* term I could use to describe The Bee Sting. It is an astounding achievement in literature, and Murray deserves all the credit and buzz that The Bee Sting is sure to inherit. Pick this one up as soon as possible; it will not disappoint--of that you can be certain.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Confusing
The Bee Sting By Paul Murray I confess that this book has left me confused. Is it a young adult book? Is it a saga of a family in decline? Does it have almost an x-rated feel in parts? I could not build any real interest in the story because I could not figure out what the point of the story actually is. And the multiple sections dealing with computer gaming tuned me right out. I just couldn't finish reading the book. I do think it might find a more receptive audience in the young adult category.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Story of Family in Crisis
4.5 Stars This is one that won’t appeal to all, although there are moments that are relatable, as well as captivating, overall I think this is one that many will love, and some will not. The length, a little over 650 pages, will put some people off, which is a shame. This is a story of family, and so much more than that including love, marriage, death, loss, abuse, and an effort that goes into promises we make to ourselves - to be a better person, the kind we’d like to think that we are, or are at least capable of being. There’s also an aspect of this which seems to weave in and out of the story of a coming apocalypse, and prepping for the end of days. The crash that left many families in financial distress in 2008 has left this family on the edge of losing everything. They are barely hanging on to the business that Dickie, the father, owns. His wife, Imelda, is prodding him to go to his father to help them out. His teenage daughter, Cass, is - like most teenagers - is going through the things many teen girls go through, while her brother, PJ is going through a growing spurt, and nothing fits him anymore. This dark comedy covers several themes that don’t feel connected as this begins, but come together as the story continues. It strives to cover and connect these lives of these people who seem pretty determined to set themselves apart from each other. At times - to me - if felt disconnected, and I questioned how these various people’s stories were going to connect, but eventually, it all merges into one unforgettable story. Many thanks for the ARC provided by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com