Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

9 reviews

rei_reads's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content, Drug use, Car accident, and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit, Pedophilia, and Excrement

franceselsie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Death, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Drug use, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Stalking, and Pedophilia

mtferal's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's a quintessentially Irish story about a family hurtling towards a collapse that could be avoided if they were simply honest with one another. I loved the way the characters were laid out from each others' perspectives, and how the shift in those perspectives filled in the gaps of each other's understandings and made each of their situations more relatable. At times it felt like Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" if it was written by an author who wasn't such an asshole and clearly loved his characters. 

To address some points from other reviews-- yes, it's long. I didn't feel it overstayed its welcome, or dragged on too long in any direction before switching to a different character or plot thread. There is indeed a 100+ page stretch with no punctuation, but there aren't any quotation marks on dialogue to begin with, and proper capitalization is maintained so I found it easy to follow. I thought this contributed to an overall dreamlike feeling that made that section particularly memorable, especially since it lays out much of the core trauma that drives the engine of the story.

I really can't recommend this one enough. It went down easier than a 600+ page book about Irish family trauma should. The ending is ambiguous but thought-provoking, and I bet a re-read would be rewarded with tons of details that foreshadow the author's true intent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Gun violence, and Car accident

Minor: Bullying, Pedophilia, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

misscaitie's review

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Barely finished it. 600 pages of misery

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Infidelity, Cursing, Stalking, Death, and Dementia

Minor: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Addiction, and Biphobia

kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh my goodness this book. THIS BOOK. It's heart wrenching, it's tense, it'll keep you on the edge of your seat. Your heart will hurt. You'll be angry at a few people. But it's worth the ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cursing, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Grief, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Alcohol, Infidelity, Death, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

lipliplip's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, and Outing

eliss959's review

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Wow
There were some points where I thought this book was so long. I felt like I have been taken for a ride with no destination but only the ending time, p.642. The book is a series of mildly disastrous decisions, and dialogues. The incomprehension among characters, their insecurities and problems. But the last 30-20 pages covered me in anxiety. I struggled to turn the last page as I still couldn’t understand how the book would finish as for the whole time it had been an unpredictable ride. 
I’m so glad I’ve read it and stuck to it. It was a mountain that I wanted to climb and I have all the thrills of climbing it, but now at the top I see the reality of life and my desire to finish it became ephemeral. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Homophobia

dizzzybrook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have been longing for a book like this my entire adult life. I'm not entirely sure how to put into words how incredibly attached I have become to these characters, how moved I am by their experiences and actions, and how devastated I am to have to now part with them. Paul Murray's writing is exceptionally complex while still maintaining a level of accessibility that forces you to care about the story he meticulously builds over the course of 700 pages. I understand that certain readers may find this book slow moving, uninteresting, or difficult to dedicate time to. The Bee Sting does not offer you automatic comfort nor does it make it easy for readers to immediately relate to or even care about its characters. This is a book about the imperfections of being human, the things we do to each other, the things we do to ourselves, and the things we do to be loved. Murray writes these characters in a way that is realistic, empathetic, and nuanced without being gimmicky or relying too much on shock factor. I really can't express enough how beautiful and heartbreaking this book is. I know this response will not be universal, but every part of this book worked for me. There are so many moving parts, so many excessive details and little bits and pieces of the story that may feel irrelevant but it truly feels as if you are living the lives of these characters alongside with them. If you are someone who enjoys character driven stories and wants something challenging with and incredible build up and pay off, I can not recommend The Bee Sting enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Violence, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Rape

reads_eats_explores's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Bee Sting opens with a tale of woe, “a man had killed his family” in another town, and “rumours swirled about affairs, addiction, hidden files on his computer.” Are these prophecies of what awaits the Barnes family, our multilayered protagonists?

The Barnes, oh, how can one small family have so many adversities to face? They live in an unnamed small Irish town and are struggling on so many levels; godawful for them but great for the storytelling.

In the wake of a recession, the Volkswagen dealership run by Dickie Barnes has seen sales plummet while also facing a surge in complaints about repair work. Does Dickie know more than he's letting on? In an effort to stick his head in the sand as far as the dubious business at the garage goes, he retreats into himself and the woodlands behind their house, where he attempts to create a ‘safe zone’ where they'll be safe when not if the shit hits the fan.

A disgruntled client’s son threatens to beat Dickie’s boy, PJ, with a hammer. PJ sinks deeper into loneliness and online gaming forums, where he gets befriended by a profile that reeks of malevolence.

PJ's sister, Cass, flounders with her capricious best friend, peer pressure, leaving cert stress and the demon drink.

Their mother, Imelda, bears the brunt of the neighbours’ schadenfreude. She stops her beloved online shopping (her one true joy) and worries that she has somehow caused this rake load of trouble through a family curse.

Told through these multiple points of view in chapters narrated by each character, we get the modern day tale with plenty of historical flashbacks thrown in.

These flashbacks mostly reveal the poverty and old passions that shade Dickie and Imelda’s rather uneasy marriage.

All the characters are well developed and paint their own grim picture, but for me, Imelda’s sections are the stand out highlights. They are structured in the stream-of-consciousness style that really draws you in, from her early years of violence and poverty down “piggery lane” to her current predicament.

In this tragicomic behemoth read, Murray shows a great talent for blending humour and pathos. Yes, we trudge from bad to worse, with Murray tirelessly concocting fresh anguish for the Barneses, but there's a good dose of quintessentially Irish humour along the way. 4.5⭐

Many thanks to Penguin Books Ireland for an advance copy. As always, this is an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Gore, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Stalking, Biphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Sexism, Classism, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape