The Bee Sting by Paul Murray: A review

This book has been highly acclaimed by just about everyone who has reviewed it and now it has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, so obviously it must have a lot that's good going for it. So why did it leave me dissatisfied? 

The Bee Sting is the story of the Barnes family, a family that is in trouble and struggling to maintain its station in life as the husband/father's car business hits the skids and he seems incapable of doing anything to save it. Instead, he spends his time out in the woods preparing for the actual end of the world while his wife, Imelda, sells off her jewelry on eBay.

Meanwhile, their teenage daughter, Cass, who has always been a top student in her class, has started drinking as a way of coping with the situation at home, and twelve-year-old PJ is obsessed with video game forums. On one of those forums, he has met someone named Ethan who is encouraging him to run away from home.

So, we have a family about to fly apart and the question is, "Can this family be saved?" And, perhaps, should it be?

Paul Murray is a very good writer and this is a well-written book, but I think it could have benefitted from a stricter editor. The Kindle version of the book, which is what I read, is 736 pages long! It could have been a hundred pages - maybe even 200 pages - shorter and still told the story and, in my opinion, it would have been a better book. 

I did enjoy the book even in its great length and I really have no criticism of it other than the fact that it is just too long. While reading it, I frequently had the urge to say to the writer, "Just get on with it!" That, I think, is not the reaction the writer was going for. 
 

Comments

  1. CarmenOctober 25, 2023 at 7:12 PM

    I liked it a lot, but you make a good point.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersOctober 25, 2023 at 7:26 PM

      I really debated with myself about what rating to assign the book, because I DID like it quite a lot, but I just couldn't bring myself to rate it higher because of the incredible length.

      Delete
  2. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzOctober 26, 2023 at 6:08 AM

    I think the book is brilliant, with four different narrators who are all trying to deal with life in four different ways. It IS very long. I took issue with the book's unremitting bleakness. As I read it, and for a while after I finished it, I could not shake off the bleakness. Whew.

    Here are my thoughts: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5874962671

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersOctober 26, 2023 at 10:33 AM

      You are definitely in the majority with your opinion of the book.

      Delete
  3. Lark October 26, 2023 at 3:30 PM

    I looked up the print version and it's 645 pages! That's a little too long for me...especially when it sounds like this story needs some serious editing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersOctober 26, 2023 at 3:46 PM

      And yet most readers seem to love it, even in its great length.

      Delete
  4. thecuecardNovember 1, 2023 at 2:55 PM

    Yeah I guess I have trouble wanting to pick it up due to the length of the novel. I think I'd agree with you about wanting to cut it by 100 or 200 pages. Hmm which is not a good sign. Though I am a bit curious if the family is able to right itself ... or is it just bleak all the way through ... hmm. thanks for the review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersNovember 1, 2023 at 3:25 PM

      The family survives and all is not entirely bleak. It is a well-written book. I think you might enjoy it.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
Read more

The Investigator by John Sandford: A review

Image
  I have read a few of John Sandford's books in the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. This book is a literal offspring of that series. It's the first in a series featuring Davenport's adopted daughter Letty Davenport. Letty is in her mid-20s and a graduate of Stanford. She works for a U.S. senator named Christopher Colles in a desk job but she's bored with her assignments. Then the senator offers her a chance to go into the field as a liaison between his office and the Department of Homeland Security.  In her first assignment in that position, she is sent to Texas along with DHS investigator John Kaiser to try to find out what is happening in regard to thefts of crude oil. The senator is not so concerned about the lost oil but wants to know where the money from its sale is going. Who is selling the oil and what they are doing with the profits? The suspicion is that a particularly nasty militia group led by a woman is involved. Letty and Kaiser head out to Texas, de...
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
Read more