The Bee Sting

A Novel

By: Paul Murray

Narrated by: Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, Ciaran O'Brien, Lisa Caruccio Came

Shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart.

The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under—but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away.

If you wanted to change this story, how far back would you have to go? To the infamous bee sting that ruined Imelda’s wedding day? To the car crash one year before Cass was born? All the way back to Dickie at ten years old, standing in the summer garden with his father, learning how to be a real man?

The Bee Sting, Paul Murray’s exuberantly entertaining new novel, is a tour de force: a portrait of postcrash Ireland, a tragicomic family saga, and a dazzling story about the struggle to be good at the end of the world.

©2023 Paul Murray (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Not worth it

Im very surprised how many fantastic critical reviews I read of this book. I’m struggling to understand why after completing it. The writing is good, but not amazing. The story is dour and depressing and, ultimately not very unique or captivating. It is a tragedy, but not one that left me with deeper questions or much interest in the characters. Reads a bit like Irish Jonathan Franzen, but perhaps less unique. I probably would not have finished it if not for the Irish readers, which did a good job with the production and, who I just overall enjoyed listening to. But given the length and lack of redemption of this book, I would recommend skipping it.

Another Paul Murray tragicomedy, a bit like Skippy Dies.

There’s a lot of deep-ish thinking by characters and all the action/plot takes place within relationships in a small town in south Ireland, two hours south of Dublin. As usual in Murphy’s work, I loved the interior monologues of the characters…which
is how the story is told. He gives a goodly amount of foreshadowing and at the end of the book, all the drama
threads come together... ALMOST! Warning: the ending is a cliffhanger and I didn’t like that. There are so many possibilities that I don’t think we’re meant to be able to intuit what happened.
Readers OUTSTANDING! Very nuanced. It’s a very long
book but the story kept me involved (some days until 4:30).

Pretty accurate about the human condition

That being said, almost unbearable to watch people hurtling towards certain disaster. I almost had to stop listening because the sheer obliviousness of the characters- not that it wasn’t realistic. Painful.

A snapshot of Ireland, not the travel book kind.

I have almost finished Skippy Dies, after having read the Bee Sting, and all I can say is I WANT MORE!!! Sadly, I think there’s only a couple more titles by this author. These books are incredible listens, with real Irish accents! Don’t miss.

Little resolution

Too much time for too little return. But maybe that’s just the Irish way. Hmm.