‘WINNER OF THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS EASON NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2023
Winner of the Nero Gold Prize, Book of the Year 2023
– The Bee Sting
[ About The Bee Sting ]
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under – but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.
Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favour to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil – can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written – is there still time to find a happy ending?
[ My Review ]
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray published with Hamish Hamilton (Penguin) June 8th and is perfectly described as ‘irresistibly funny, wise and thought-provoking, a tragicomic tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart . . .’ A book that is over 600 pages can be a daunting prospect but, from the opening paragraph, I knew I was committed. I read The Bee Sting on my recent holiday and, although I was in Croatia, I was completely immersed in this small Irish town and in the lives of the Barnes family.
The Bee Sting is a read of epic proportions about a dysfunctional family that is falling apart at the scenes. Reading this book is akin to experiencing an extraordinary journey with a bunch of people you know. Paul Murray’s ability to weave such an intricate storyline blew me away as I hungrily turned the pages at every available opportunity. This is a very intelligent and tightly plotted tale, an outstanding novel that really needs to be read to fully grasp its observational qualities and the skill of this top-class writer. I have had Skippy Dies, Paul Murray’s highly successful 2010 novel, on my radar for quite some time, but now it’s firmly on my shopping list as a must-read.
The Barnes’ family consist of Dickie, his wife Imelda and their two children, PJ and Cass. Dickie took over his father’s car business but the crash in 2008 has left them financially constrained. The business is failing, money is tight and Dickie is under pressure from Imelda to look for help from his Dad, Maurice, who is now retired and living in the Algarve. Meanwhile Cass is suffering teenage angst and PJ is hiding the fact that his shoes no longer fit. As the family propel through the chaos of survival, the reader is transported back into the lives of a complex cast of breath-taking characters.
The Bee Sting is phenomenal. Oozing with warmth, wit and dark comedy, it is a seriously impressive piece of work. Paul Murray depicts the lives of all these people in a stunning way, bringing a whole community alive with all its quirks, successes and failures. I stopped reading on numerous occasions as I attempted to fathom how one would approach assembling a novel of such complexity while commanding the attention of the reader at all times.
There are multiple themes explored throughout The Bee Sting, all handled with a sensitive and expert hand. This is the story of a family in crisis but it is also a story of lies, deception, grief, passion, love and self-discovery. While at times quite a sombre read, it is also filled with cracking dialogue and unconventional personalities, a novel that really produces the unexpected. For such a long novel, my words today are very sparse, as this is an experience that needs little introduction, just a bit of advice – read it!
A captivating read from start to finish, The Bee Sting is a poignant, melancholy, warm, funny, dark and outstanding adventure, one that is worth every ounce of investment of the time needed to conquer such a towering novel. Did I mention I loved it 🙂
[ Bio ]
Paul Murray was born in Dublin in 1975 and is the author of An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Skippy Dies, The Mark and the Void and The Bee Sting. An Evening of Long Goodbyes was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and nominated for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. Skippy Dies was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and longlisted for the Booker Prize. The Mark and the Void won the Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2016. Paul Murray lives in Dublin.
