The Bee Sting: A Novel (Unabridged)
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4.1 • 46 Ratings
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- $34.99
Publisher Description
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.
Customer Reviews
Good , worth the read , but long
It kept my attention throughout the book, but making the top 10 NY Times Bestseller for 2023? I wouldn’t go that far. Depressing
No Redeeming Aspect
I disliked this book intensely. This characters were all self absorbed and no one rose above their awful situations. The only relief was that the ending was not as gruesome as it might have been. I strongly advise against taking time to read this lengthy novel.