2023 Booker Longlist: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

by imabookwormy on September 18, 2023

Entering the home stretch, our next book is The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. Paul Murray is an Irish author who is no stranger to the Booker Prize. His novel, Skippy Dies was long listed for the Booker in 2010.

Synopsis taken from the Booker Prize website: 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. His exasperated wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while half-heartedly dodging the attentions of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike.

Meanwhile, teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And 12-year-old PJ, in debt to local sociopath ‘Ears’ Moran, is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away.

Yes, in Paul Murray’s brilliant tragicomic saga, the Barnes family is definitely in trouble. So where did it all go wrong? And if the story has already been written – is there still time to find a happy ending?

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Keep reading to find out how our panelists rated this book.

Anita’s Thoughts: Perfectly imperfect, I loved this novel told from four perspectives in a single family – the parents, Imelda and Dickie, and their children, Cassandara and PJ. Reading it felt like falling down a slippery slope that got increasingly steeper and steeper until you are careening toward the bottom. Each character is so well written, and in their own distinctive voice. There’s some social commentary in the mix, but the book doesn’t clobber the reader over the head with it. There’s a segment of the book that’s written in second person, and I really thought it was the best part. I felt just that much closer to each character. A lot of people are going to take issue with the ending, but I thought it was a very Black Mirror type gut punch and not really all that ambiguous. Definitely dark.

In terms of criticism, one character’s voice was written in a stream of consciousness style, and while I didn’t think that was hard to read, if you like proper English and punctuation, it’s a little more time in that character’s head than is going to feel comfortable. My one issue with the ending was it did depend a bit on some coincidence that may stretch believability, but it didn’t bother me personally. If you read a lot of stories about what goes on in the real world, it doesn’t take much to buy in.

In terms of its literary value, well, it’s not all that Booker-ish to me, and it doesn’t quite seem like a story that will stand the test of time necessarily. But a great read in the tradition of Franzen, Hill, Irving, Tartt . . .yes.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 17/20

BookWorm’s Thoughts: Initially I was caught up in the narrative, which is essentially a family saga. However as viewpoints and timelines switched, I found things got a little repetitive.

There is so much layering going on in this book that it was like reading an onion. The book relies heavily on bad luck and coincidences, so many coincidences it becomes unbelievable.

The pacing picks up in the final section where the author switches to a second person narrative addressing the reader as if we are each character. As the coincidences build up it is clearly signed posted where everyone will end up and there are several possible outcomes, none particularly good. Then just like that the book is over leaving the reader to decide what has actually happened.

This book is way too long and requirements way too much investment for that kind of payoff.

Writing quality: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 1/2
Total: 13/20

Lisa’s Thoughts: I tend to love novels like this: sprawling family sagas, fast- paced (even if long), psychologically oriented, the same events told from multiple perspectives, going over the same ground but each time going deeper. And, I did indeed enjoy this one. I agree with other reviewers that I’ve read that this author is good at getting into the minds of an adolescent boy and late adolescent girl. I can remember thinking things that, as an adult, no longer make any sense. Though of course the adults in this novel don’t really make sense to me either — but I certainly haven’t lived with the cultural constraints and frank trauma that these characters lived through. The plot may take a while (did I mention it’s a long book?) but ultimately it all comes full circle. I did take one point off for originality, as this reminded me a lot of Jonathan Franzen in terms of style.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 4/4
Overall enjoyment: 4/2
Total: 18/20

Jen’s Thoughts: This book was very Franzenesque and I happen to like Franzen’s books. In many ways this read like an Irish version of Freedom so I did take points off for originality. It’s a long book and I had to speed read my way through it in order to make our panel deadline. But I thought it was very well written and I was engaged throughout. One of the reasons why I love Franzen (his works not him as a person) is his ability to capture the interior lives of his characters embedded in a social time and context. Murray did the same for this novel. HIs characters were very well developed and believable. The novel is both funny and sad and entirely relevant to our current times.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 4/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 17/20

Have you read this one? Let us know what you thought.

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