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The Bee Sting
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, Ciaran O'Brien, Lisa Caruccio Came
- Length: 26 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize
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 Dickie is 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 and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away.
If you wanted to change this story, how far back would you have to go? To the infamous bee sting that ruined Imelda’s wedding day? To the car crash one year before Cass was born? All the way back to Dickie at ten years old, standing in the summer garden with his father, learning how to be a real man?
The Bee Sting, Paul Murray’s exuberantly entertaining new novel, is a tour de force: a portrait of postcrash Ireland, a tragicomic family saga, and a dazzling story about the struggle to be good at the end of the world.
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What listeners say about The Bee Sting
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- Northern AB Sunshine
- 2024-04-17
solid listen
The performance and overall story is great. I understand how some listeners may not appreciate the ending, however, regardless of taste in that regard, this is worth a listen. Very entertaining and thought provoking.
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- Aymen
- 2024-01-10
My favorite 2023 book
This is the perfect book to be listened to. The last chapter is a harmonious chevauchement of characters that is performed perfectly by the narrators!
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- Bob Tyrrell
- 2024-01-05
Absolutely brilliant!!!
Paul Murray is a masterful storyteller… The Bee Sting is a masterpiece! Yes, the complexity of structure is somewhat challenging, but the effort proves entirely worthwhile. His characters are brilliantly conceived and convincingly brought to life. Epic in scope, the tale might seem to wander a bit in the middle chapters. Nevertheless the momentum builds through the final third to a stunning conclusion… This is perhaps the perfect novel for these times— dark yet humorous, sad and uplifting, tragic and uncertain… brilliant.
I listened to the audiobook… twenty-four hours of wonderful entertainment… without doubt the best audiobook I’ve enjoyed (and I’ve “read” more than 150). The five readers are all first rate. I’ll buy the paperback when it comes out in June and will surely enjoy another go at it!
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- carolyn mains
- 2023-12-19
Brilliantly comedic and dark
I liked and disliked that the ending was somewhat ambiguous. Did Dicky actually pull the trigger?
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- MD
- 2024-02-26
Amazing story and reading
Some reviews are too revealing about the end. Avoid these if possible. Wonderfully crafted and moving story of a family.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2024-03-06
Audible narrators were very good.
This was a disappointment from the start to the finish. Great character development but a slow, plodding plot that just went on and on.
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