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A review by gvstyris
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
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
5.0
So many of the bad things that happen in the world come from people pretending to be something they’re not.
The Bee Sting depicts a family on the brink of collapse, its four members incapable of emotional vulnerability and ravaged by years of shame and trauma. It is devastating how little the POV characters know about one-another, especially the married couple, Dickie and Imelda.
The consideration of these four perspectives is where much of The Bee Sting's genius lies. Cass and PJ's two-dimensional perception of their parents' beliefs and ambitions, for example, is challenged as soon as we reach Imelda's first chapter. I was surprised by how convincingly Murray writes each character, portraying both women and younger voices with sensitivity and understanding. Each perspective adds something to the overall narrative, and I particularly enjoyed delving into Dickie's psyche.
Murray's prose also plays an important role in this novel's success. Imelda's chapters are written without punctuation, offering the reader a stream-of-consciousness that seems to mirror her anxiety and disorientation with her life's trajectory. That being said, I did listen to the audiobook and would recommend it for a more seamless reading experience -- a couple of Murray's stylistic choices would likely have bugged me without it. I also loved how each section decreases in length as the novel progresses, slowly building the tension as it becomes clearer and clearer that the Barnes' family is irreparably damaged. Similarly, the symbolism here is beautiful: the squirrels, Imelda's fairytales, the bee sting itself.
Given that this book is a 650 page marathon, it delves into too many other themes to summarise here. The discussion around climate anxiety and human destruction also stuck with me, as well as the religious guilt that underpins much of Dickie's (and Imelda's, I suppose) struggle. I will be thinking about the ending for a long time, but am definitely a believer thatthe novel's opening lines foreshadow its conclusion. There is something suitably tragic about the catharsis of Dickie committing suicide after unintentionally shooting the two children.
The consideration of these four perspectives is where much of The Bee Sting's genius lies. Cass and PJ's two-dimensional perception of their parents' beliefs and ambitions, for example, is challenged as soon as we reach Imelda's first chapter. I was surprised by how convincingly Murray writes each character, portraying both women and younger voices with sensitivity and understanding. Each perspective adds something to the overall narrative, and I particularly enjoyed delving into Dickie's psyche.
Murray's prose also plays an important role in this novel's success. Imelda's chapters are written without punctuation, offering the reader a stream-of-consciousness that seems to mirror her anxiety and disorientation with her life's trajectory. That being said, I did listen to the audiobook and would recommend it for a more seamless reading experience -- a couple of Murray's stylistic choices would likely have bugged me without it. I also loved how each section decreases in length as the novel progresses, slowly building the tension as it becomes clearer and clearer that the Barnes' family is irreparably damaged. Similarly, the symbolism here is beautiful: the squirrels, Imelda's fairytales, the bee sting itself.
Given that this book is a 650 page marathon, it delves into too many other themes to summarise here. The discussion around climate anxiety and human destruction also stuck with me, as well as the religious guilt that underpins much of Dickie's (and Imelda's, I suppose) struggle. I will be thinking about the ending for a long time, but am definitely a believer that
On a pettier note, though, I was slightly tempted to take half a star off because the names of the two gay men are Dickie and Willie :sob:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Rape, and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit, Car accident, and Lesbophobia