Book Review: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Ok.. how long have you got? Because I could rave about this book ALLLLLLL day. It’s a big one – over 600 pages long, but I was ADDICTED.

It’s about the Barnes family, a semi well off Irish family and how their lives completely unravel because of the 2008 financial crash. I kinda want to stop there and let you go in blind. But I’ll say a little more.

The chapters unfold switching between all the members of the family. There’s Cassie the 17 year old daughter DESPERATE to get out of their small town and away from her parents. Then there is PJ who is 12 years old and utterly terrified of his parents getting divorced and being shipping off to boarding school. Dickie, the father has lost control of their finances and has taken to building a bunker in the woods prepping for the ends of days. Then there is Imelda… oh Imelda. A beautiful but utterly tragic character. It’s Imelda’s chapters that flip back and forth to reveal the background we need to even begin to understand where and how things went wrong for the Barnes family.. I cant, I wont say more!

I think what I loved about this book, apart from being a total JOY to devour was the brilliant story telling. I found it to be so funny but moving. It was so propulsive and the tension just kept building…

But really, it was the characters, THE CHARACTERS!

As with all family novels, we end up spending so much time with each of them we can end up so emotionally attached (enter Michaela Webb) and are just so sad when it’s over.

I highly recommend this book.. if you read it and love it.. come and find meeee!!