
The bee sting
2 journalers for this copy...

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart.
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.
Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil―can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written―is there still time to find a happy ending?
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.
Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil―can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written―is there still time to find a happy ending?

2024 has been an exciting years for good novels I must say, but this one has to be topping the list. It was a book group choice and the size worried me a tad, but within 100 pages I was sucked in and could not put it down. It's a wild ride, and a beautifully written one.
I have my own permanent copy on my shelves but this one was found in my local street library and looks literally unread. Ready to travel again now!
I have my own permanent copy on my shelves but this one was found in my local street library and looks literally unread. Ready to travel again now!

Journal Entry 3 by
Jean-Sol
at A fellow BookCrosser, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, January 18, 2025


Released 1 mo ago (1/19/2025 UTC) at A fellow BookCrosser, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Passing on to a BC friend who has this book on their wishlist.

Caught at meetup

This book was a bit of a slog for me, took me a while to get into it. I think it was longer than it needed to be, it did drag on a bit. The Barnes family run a car business in their small town not far from Dublin, and the business is in trouble, they are close to bankruptcy. Dickie is trying to ignore the problem by building a bunker in case the world comes to an end. Imelda his wife is very unhappy and does not know what to do. Cass their daughter is in her final year and desperate to get into Trinity College. PJ their son is confused and plans to run away from home. Each of the main characters narrate their own story. It has an ambiguous ending, so you are left hanging, not knowing what happened.