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

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