The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, or Paul Murray Hurt Me
This is Irish contemporary literature, and it’s been so great to read new Irish stuff. In addition to this, we’ve both spent some time reading Claire Keegan (watch for Cillian Murphy in a new movie of her book, Small Things Like These). Jennifer read, um, Bono’s book. Lara’s read a bunch of new Irish stuff. But here we are: The Bee Sting is of epic proportions, delving into the life of the very troubled Barnes family. Dickie, now a middle-aged dad, once dropped out of Trinity in Dublin in order to take over the family car dealership when his brother, Frank, tragically died,. Imelda is his bitterly unhappy wife. Cass is waiting to get away, teenage angst propelling her towards college life in Dublin, like her dad. PJ is the little one, enmeshed in family drama and video games and social media hell. Layer upon layer, we become intimate with their complexities.
READ THIS NOTE! We’re doing something a bit different from our usual thing with this review. We’re dividing it into PART ONE and PART TWO. In Part One, you’re safe: no spoilers. Read it to see if you’re interested in pursuing this very big book. In Part Two, we include SPOILERS–and we’re talking BIG spoilers. The end of the book is our topic of discussion. So, well, you have been warned.
PART ONE: NO SPOILERS
Jennifer: Lara, did you like this book?
Lara: That’s a loaded question. The Bee Sting is a chunky-monkey book, clocking in at twenty-six hours and ten minutes on audio (that’s 656 pages for physical book/ebook readers). And in a book like that, hooking you from the beginning is critical.
“In the next town over, a man has killed his family. He’d nailed the doors shut so they couldn’t get out; the neighbors heard them running through the rooms screaming, screaming for mercy. When he had finished he turned the gun on himself.
“Everyone was talking about it – about what kind of man could do such a thing, about the secrets he must have had. Rumors swirled about affairs, addiction, hidden files on his computer.
“Elaine just said she was surprised it didn’t happen more often. She thrust her thumbs through the belt loops of her jeans and looked down the dreary main street of their town. I mean, she said, it’s something to do.”
And, at that, I was hooked.
Jennifer: So chunky-monkey. I gotta say that I went in knowing NOTHING. Not. A. Thing. And I think that’s a great way to go. I knew it was praised in 2023. That’s all.
And, yes, I don’t think it took long for me to be utterly hooked. The audio, incidentally, is fab.
Lara: Audio is totally the way to go. They did it right with a full-cast production. With a book this long, though, I think it’s almost impossible to keep a reader engaged at the same intensity for that long. Did I like it? Yes is the simple answer.
More thoughtfully, it started as a five-star read, dipped into three-star territory for the bulk of the book, and then for the last two hours, I was riveted. My heart was LITerally racing. The ending was five-star all the way. So, I land at this being a four-star read for me.
What about you?
Jennifer: Read on, but–for me–it was five-star writing from the beginning. It dipped into three-star for a scary moment. It went back to five-star for the final hour or two. It landed at four-star with the end.
Did I like it, though?
Yes. Yes, I did. I think you and I might differ in opinion soon. However, I felt as if this were a tour de force of EXQUISITE writing. I’m so impressed on the craft-level. Like, this book teaches:
- How does one effectively create distinct character voices?
- How does one use second-person point of view well?
- What is foreshadowing?
I could go on, but I always wonder–when authors switch character points of view–if I’m going to tacitly dread the move and always really want to go back to one character or the other. I remember thinking this in Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise. I was bummed when she switched points of view, because I was so into a character. And then . . . then . . . I got hooked on the new narrator! (I loved that book.)
This book was the same.
I thought I’d not like Imelda (the family matriarch). Then I was into Imelda!
This kept happening!
(Also, Dickie, educated, academic, has a voice that is poetic, intellectual, beautiful. Imelda’s lacks most punctuation, and reflects her background. Cass has classic teeny-bopper moments, and PJ is a kid. It’s very well-done.)
Second-person: brilliant!
Lara: I totally agree with you! Murray develops characters brilliantly. I think PJ, the son, was my favorite. His angst toward older sister Cass (and specifically the hilarious top ten list he kept of reasons why Cass was a terrible sister), his tenderheartedness, his completely unfounded fear about being shipped off to boarding school, his utter naivete and certainness of safety in attempting to meet up with a friend he makes online. It helped that the talent selected to voice PJ was a perfect match.
Jennifer: The mom in me found PJ cute. That unfounded fear of being shipped off to boarding school!
Weird tangential issue. We were initially planning on reviewing Nathan Hill’s Wellness, which we both read. I think, kinda, they go together. What did you think of Wellness? Is it me, or are you seeing connections too?
Lara: I am not sure I had considered that! But they do have some connective tissue beyond both being total door-stoppers of books (and Ari Fliakos expertly narrates all the characters in Hill’s nearly nineteen-hour tome). The books are both, at their hearts, about the various relationships we have in our lives, how we show up for them (or don’t), the secrets we keep from them, and how they crack or survive over time.
Jennifer: I won’t go on and on but Wellness felt equally epic to me, revealing also how we carry these rich, complicated, often secret histories into our relationships, our lives. I loved it for revealing that there was so much below the surface than what meets the eye. Murphy was like that to me. Also, I think both books were very smart, observant.
I’ll head over to Part Two by ending with this quote from The Bee Sting:
“That’s the past, isn’t it. You think it’s behind you, then one day you walk into a room and it’s there waiting for you.”
PART TWO: SPOILERS AHEAD! This is your warning to stop reading if you don’t want to know how the book ends!
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Jennifer: Um, that end. Dear Lord, that end. What do you think?
Lara: Full transparency. The ending blew me away, and I didn’t fully understand what I had just listened to. I had to go out to the interwebs and get some clarity, and now I think I get it, and I re-listened to the first thirty minutes and last hour of the book… and it’s brilliant.
So, let’s step back.
The book opens with Cass and her best friend Elaine talking about the news of a man killing his whole family and taking his own life in the next town over.
Jennifer: And I’m glad you quoted that here (above), because I think I breezed over it–and it turns out that it likely foreshadows everything to come.
Lara: At the end of The Bee Sting, Murray has set up a perfect storm, a collision course, that can only end tragically for the entire Barnes family. And that’s ultimately what I think happens.
Here’s what we know:
- There’s a torrential rainstorm. Visibility is LOW. Noise levels are HIGH. This is very important.
- Imelda’s Aunt Rose, who has visions of death, has indicated adult Cass should not come home and that things will not work out for Imelda.
- Cass has, in fact, left a party she was attending and rescued PJ from a near abduction. They are making their way home, on foot, because they can’t get in touch with mother Imelda.They decide to take a short cut through the woods – the same woods they and their dad Dickie used to go squirrel hunting in – where Dickie and his friend Victor are…
- Dickie and his friend Victor are hiding out in the bunker they built, laying in wait for Ryzard (a former employee of Dickie’s) who is blackmailing Dickie and risking the demise of Dickie’s car dealership.
- Dickie has resigned himself to the fact that killing Ryzard is the only way to stop the blackmailing and prevent his family and the entire town from learning a secret of Dickie’s that he’s not ready (if ever) to share..
- Imelda, preparing to meet up with a local businessman and begin a much lamented affair, is having flashbacks to her and Dickie’s wedding. The tenderness of that moment is making her reconsider. She heads out the door and into the forest to either tell Dickie off or to reconcile. We aren’t totally sure.
- Dickie and Victor think they have their target, Ryzard, in their sights.
- Dickie convinces himself he’s taking this drastic measure for the love of his family.
- And shots are fired.
We are left, I think, with the brilliant foreshadowing from the book’s opening, and Dickie has accidentally shot his children (maybe his wife) and, at this revelation, is left with the only option: to take his own life.
But we aren’t totally sure.
I am going to say that this is what Murray intended.
It’s harrowing, brilliantly crafted, with the perspectives of each character being told in second-by-second back and forths as they all converge on the fatal spot in the woods.
What was your take?
Jennifer: That potential abduction of PJ was killer! Breathtaking!
Lara: That part was some of the best writing I have ever read. Ever.
Jennifer: If I were to speculate–and read the end to hear my thoughts on speculation–I’d say that Dickie murders his whole family and then kills himself. Victor, weirdo, gets away. Augustina, random character, also gets away with loot, leaving two dead bodies (I think?). The end is Greek Tragedy.
And here’s another thing: why is no one saying what I’m thinking? Ryzard, Dickie’s blackmailing creep, is the SAME hot stranger who shows up in the bar and meets Cass and Elaine, lives in his car, and they show him the bunker because he was living in his car???? Same guy! Foreign, mysterious! Knew where the bunker was, which allows for the end.
But anyhoo . . .
Moving on.
This was a five-star for me till the bitter, VERY bitter, end.
I literally stopped my life to listen to the final hour. I was so into it. Pacing was GREAT! So, when we were left with nothing, no resolution, my disappointment was profound. I’m still not okay.
Lara: I don’t mind books with vague endings. It does mean I want to talk about it or do some research to see what others are thinking about it.
Jennifer: I guess that this is what I want to say. You gave me a video, which is worth watching. My Theory About the Ending of The Bee Sting by Eric Karl Anderson. Anderson calls the end “bold.” And I’m struck. Was it?
No. I don’t think so.
And, yeah, I’m with you a thousand percent; I want to know exactly what happened. But here’s my ultimate belief: it doesn’t matter. There’s no point in speculation.
And, for that, it goes down to four-stars, and I’d probably even go down to three-stars if I weren’t still so obsessed. I think–dare I say it?–it’s a writerly cop-out, a metaphysical failure. I believe in ends.
But here’s the novel’s last line: “You are doing this for love.”
Okay.
I think Murphy is a fabulous writer. I’ll keep reading him.
Lara: While the ending is nebulous, I think it’s clear that Dickie shoots SOMEONE. And any of the someones would cause his world to completely implode. He may not have shot them all. He may not have turned the gun on himself. Why open the story that way? Why bring the end to such a fever pitch of drama and conflict, and limited visibility to have no one die? THAT outcome solves nothing. The secrets can still be revealed. His life and business can land in ruin. Someone dies. Someone definitely dies at Dickie’s hands.
Jennifer: I also think that Imelda was heading over to Dickie, all full of love and reconciliation, but we’ll never know!
And Aunt Rose cryptically warned that Cass must not return home, but she did!
And did that odd confrontation between a suddenly-wise Victor and guilt-ridden Dickie ever happen, or was it a dream?
We’ll never know!
Paul Murray, you’re killing me . . .
Jennifer: What have you been reading since we last met?
Lara: I have been on a pretty big reading jag and am loving it. I started the year with Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful which I loved. I have also loved Nathan Hill’s Wellness, Claire Keegan’s story collection: So Late in the Day, James McBride’s Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and Claire O’Donoghue’s The Rachel Incident. Was not a fan of Jen Beagin’s Big Swiss or Marie Benedict’s The Only Woman in the Room.
Jennifer: I am STILL reading Barbra Streisand’s memoir. I’ll be done in December. I’m listening to Leslie Jamison’s newbie, Splinters. She’s a pro. I read The Book of Eleven by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Loved it. I am reading an older book by Sherman Alexie, always hoping for his personal redemption. I’m excited to soon dip into Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel by Douglas Preston and Margaret Atwood.
Next Time!
Join us next time when we come together to talk about Fourteen Days with each chapter written by a different author!
. . . Until then, happy reading Snotties!