Book of the Week: THE BEE STING by Paul Murray
Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting is a favourite with many bookies to win this year’s Booker Prize. (which will be announced in just a few days!). From the author of the excellent Skippy Dies comes a dazzlingly intricate and poignant tragicomedy about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good man at the end of the world. Exceptionally well-reviewed since its publication, the story is told by the four distinct voices of the Barnes family. Meet Dickie whose car business is going under, but he's out in the woods preparing for the actual end of the world. Meanwhile, his wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay, their teenage daughter, Cass, is determined to drink her way through the whole thing, and PJ, aged 12, is disappearing into the video game portal and hatching a plan. There’s trouble ahead. Move over Skippy, The Bee is here. This should be on your reading pile this summer.
“Paul Murray’s saga, The Bee Sting, set in the Irish Midlands, brilliantly explores how our secrets and self-deceptions ultimately catch up with us. This family drama, told from multiple perspectives, is at once hilarious and heartbreaking, personal and epic. It’s an addictive read.” —The Booker Judges