{"product_id":"the-bee-sting-9780241353950","title":"The Bee Sting","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2023\u003cbr\u003eWINNER OF AN POST IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023\u003cbr\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023\u003cbr\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS' PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024\u003cbr\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024\u003cbr\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE SKY ARTS AWARDS 2024\u003cbr\u003eONE OF SARAH JESSICA PARKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook of the Year 2023\u003c\/b\u003e according to \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker, The Sunday Times, The Economist, Observer, Guardian, Washington Post, Lit Hub, TIME magazine, Irish Times, The Oldie, Daily Mail, i Paper, Independent, The Standard, The Times, Kirkus, Daily Express, City A.M. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom one of our greatest comic novelists and the author of Skippy Dies comes a funny, thought-provoking story of one family desperately clinging on as their world falls apart . . .\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A tragicomic triumph. You won''t read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year'' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Barnes family is in trouble. D\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt can't be overstated how purely pleasurable \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e is to read\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003cb\u003eMurray's brilliant new novel, about a rural Irish clan, posits the author as Dublin's answer to Jonathan Franzen . . . A 650-page slab of compulsive high-grade entertainment, \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e oozes pathos while being very funny to boot . . .\u003c\/b\u003e Murray's observational gifts and A-game phrase-making render almost every page - every line, it sometimes seems - abuzz with fresh and funny insights . . . At its core this is a novel concerned with the ties that bind, secrets and lies, love and loss. They're all here, brought to life with captivating vigour in a first-class performance to cherish * Observer (Anthony Cummins) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e is the finest novel that Murray has yet written\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eand will surely be\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eone of the books of 2023\u003c\/b\u003e . . . It bears comparison to the brilliant comic writer Jonathan Coe... But Murray is his own writer, capable of keeping a multi-faceted and compulsive plot moving along with alacrity and confidence, while seamlessly blending drama, comedy and heartbreak... \u003cb\u003eFor 13 years, Paul Murray has been best known as the author of \u003ci\u003eSkippy Dies\u003c\/i\u003e. That, I suspect, is about to change\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Independent *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eImmersive, brilliantly structured, beautifully written,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eso dense yet so compelling, [and] as laugh-out-loud funny as it is deeply disturbing\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e is as ambitious as anything that has gone before, but with a focus and shape that grants it great depth as well as breadth. Seriously, all you need is this, your suntan lotion and a few days off work and you're good to go . . . I didn't see the plot twists coming. And they keep on coming, And coming again . . . \u003cb\u003eI began with an ovation. I'll end abruptly, and in awe\u003c\/b\u003e... \u003cb\u003ePaul Murray, the undisputed reigning champion of epic Irish tragicomedy, has done it again \u003c\/b\u003e * The Spectator (Ian Samson) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe most enjoyable new novel I came across this year. \u003c\/b\u003eA sprawling, Franzen-esque saga about the Barnes family in Ireland recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, \u003cb\u003eit’s an amazing piece of realist fiction, full-bodied, multi-narrative; a huge swing by Murray\u003c\/b\u003e -- Bret Easton Ellis * Observer *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA triumph.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting \u003c\/i\u003edeserves all the praise I am heaping on it. It is generous, immersive, sharp-witted and devastating; the sort of novel that becomes a friend for life\u003c\/b\u003e * Financial Times (John Self) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eExpertly foreshadowed and so intricately put together, a brilliantly funny, deeply sad portrait of an Irish family in crisis . . . \u003c\/b\u003eMurray is triumphantly back on home turf - troubled adolescents, regretful adults, secrets signposted and exquisitely revealed, each line soaked in irony ranging from the gentle to the savage . . . We live though hundreds of pages on tenterhooks, and the suspense and revelations keep coming until the end [...] He is brilliant on fathers and sons, sibling rivalry, grief, self-sabotage and self-denial, as well as the terrible weakness humans have for magical thinking... \u003cb\u003eA tragicomic triumph,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eyou won't read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian (Justine Jordan) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis bumper novel is already gaining plaudits as the\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ebook of the summer\u003c\/b\u003e, and if it's a meaty, heart punching, expertly executed family saga you need this August, then you can stop the search now . . . Murray delivers scarcely a duff sentence in a 600-page novel that's \u003cb\u003epure unadulterated pleasure\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003cb\u003eIt's been compared to Jonathan Franzen's \u003ci\u003eThe Corrections\u003c\/i\u003e; I'd argue it's better than that\u003c\/b\u003e * Daily Mail (Claire Allfree) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNo one writes tragicomedy as good as this . . . Both brilliant entertainment and a penetrating look at the human condition, as heavy with pathos as it is rich with humour. And if 650 pages asks a lot of the reader, in this case it more than delivers \u003c\/b\u003e * i *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDelightfully rackety, raucously funny... \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e is on a par with \u003ci\u003eSkippy Dies,\u003c\/i\u003e Murray's most beloved book, and certainly exceeds it in ambition. A masterpiece\u003c\/b\u003e * Irish Independent *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMurray is a natural storyteller who knows when to withhold, to indulge, to surprise. \u003c\/b\u003eHe specialises, like Dickens, in lengthy sagas that are mammoth in scope, generous with detail and backstory, flush with humour and colourful characters, all of it steeped in social realism . . . \u003cb\u003eAmbitious, expansive, hugely entertaining tragicomic fiction\u003c\/b\u003e * Irish Times (Sarah Gilmartin) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarefully paced, brilliantly convincing and helped along by plenty of subtle satire . . . A huge, marbled wagyu steak of a novel that ranges confidently from humane to horrifying. It's a classic family saga in the mode of \u003ci\u003eThe Corrections \u003c\/i\u003eor \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Sound and the Fury \u003c\/b\u003e. . . \u003c\/i\u003eMurray delights in taking a stock type - the sullen pubescent, the frazzled mother - and exploding it with ambiguity and empathy . . . \u003cb\u003eAn immensely enjoyable piece of expert craftsmanship\u003c\/b\u003e * The Times (James Riding) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis novel is as generous, expansive, and glorious as a cathedral,\u003c\/b\u003e as intimate as pillow-talk, and as funny and heartbreaking as nothing you've read before. \u003cb\u003ePaul Murray may just be the most spellbinding storyteller writing today. A magisterial piece of work\u003c\/b\u003e -- Neel Mukherjee, author of 'The Lives of Others'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBold [and] expansive\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e. . . Paul Murray is consistently inventive, observant and funny.\u003c\/b\u003e He is on intimate terms with this preteen boy, this teenage girl, this lost middle-aged man and this semi-educated woman, and he knows how to make them vivid . . . The pages turn rapidly as farce and tragedy converge, the latter threatening to get the upper hand * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eUtterly absorbing . . . Every perfectly tooled sentence slips down as cleanly as an ice-cold Negroni\u003c\/b\u003e * Daily Mail ‘2023 Summer Reads’ *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e[\u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e] reads like an instant classic\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Murray is a fantastically witty and empathetic writer, and \u003cb\u003ehe dazzles by somehow bringing the great sprawling randomness of life to glamorously choreographed climaxes.\u003c\/b\u003e He is essentially interested in the moral conflicts of our lives, and he handles his characters and their failings with heartbreaking tenderness -- Ron Charles * The Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMurray’s writing is pure joy\u003c\/b\u003e — \u003cb\u003epropulsive, insightful and seeded with hilarious observations\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Through the Barneses’ countless personal dramas, Murray explores humanity’s endless contradictions: How brutal and beautiful life is. How broken and also full of potential. How endlessly fraught and persistently promising. Whether or not we can ever truly change our course, the hapless Barneses will keep you hoping, even after you turn the novel’s last page -- Jen Doll * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eA family lurches into financial and emotional crisis in full view of judgmental neighbours in this \u003cb\u003eastute, remorselessly funny novel \u003c\/b\u003eabout how people are invariably more complex than they first appear . . . Murray tackles some of the biggest issues facing our society in \u003cb\u003ea thoughtful, tragicomic novel\u003c\/b\u003e exploring smalltown society and social class * Daily Mirror (Huston Gilmore) *\u003cbr\u003eThe overall tapestry Murray weaves is not one of desolation but of hope. \u003cb\u003eThis is a book that showcases one family’s incredible love and resilience even as their world crumbles around them\u003c\/b\u003e * New York Times, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFluid, funny and clever, exceptionally smartly structured . . .\u003c\/b\u003e There's laughter in every other line, but there's also a compassion and a midlife wisdom at work * Literary Review (Paul Genders) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFunny, dark, moving and deeply humane\u003c\/b\u003e. It's also driven by an inexorable tragic force, and Murray's intricate narrative dexterity makes it very easy to keep turning all those hundreds of pages * Observer (Summer Reads - Mark O’Connell) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis epic, many-layered tragicomedy of an Irish family in crisis is as pleasurable to read as it is emotionally devastating\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian ('Summer Stories') *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBreathtaking, blackly comic, \u003c\/b\u003eMurray's style is entirely and distinctively his own . . . Handling the plot as if it were a Rubik cube, [he] gives each character their voice in a carousel of first-person accounts, tracking backwards and into the present . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting \u003c\/i\u003eis \u003cb\u003ean immersion in the tragedy of what-might-have-been\u003c\/b\u003e * Herald (Rosemary Goring) *\u003cbr\u003eThe tale of a dysfunctional family trying to hold things together. It's \u003cb\u003ea thing of beauty, a novel that will fill your heart\u003c\/b\u003e -- Alex Preston * Observer, 'Fiction to look out for in 2023' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e has resulted in Murray being heralded \"Dublin's Jonathan Franzen\" . . .\u003cb\u003e No one does bittersweet comic novels quite like Murray\u003c\/b\u003e - fans of his 2010 boarding school comedy \u003ci\u003eSkippy Dies\u003c\/i\u003e will be aching to get their hands on this * iNews (Leila Slimani) *\u003cbr\u003eThe book I’ve recommended most this year – and had the most enthusiastic feedback about, a whopping 656 pages later – is without doubt Paul Murray’s Booker-shortlisted tragicomedy, \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting . . . \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ecombines freewheeling hilarity with savage irony\u003c\/b\u003e, surprise reveals and generations-deep sadness; it \u003cb\u003eoffers the immersive pleasures that perhaps only a fat family saga can bring\u003c\/b\u003e -- Justine Jordan * Guardian, 'Best Books of 2023' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI experienced just about every possible human emotion while reading \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, and at an intensity I have not felt with a work of fiction for a long time. \u003cb\u003eIts ambition and scale are astonishing, and as a sheer technical feat of storytelling it is remarkable.\u003c\/b\u003e Reading it, I was constantly reminded of what the novel as an artform is capable of, and what it is for. \u003cb\u003eIt might be a bold claim to make, of the author of \u003ci\u003eSkippy Dies\u003c\/i\u003e, that this new book is the best thing Paul Murray has ever done - but I'm making it anyway, because it's true\u003c\/b\u003e -- Mark O'Connell, author of 'To Be A Machine'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe idea of being swept up and spat out by falsehoods runs through much of Murray's work\u003c\/b\u003e . . . There are storylines about doomsday preppers and local GAA teams; themes of class, economic collapse, ecological catastrophe . . . Murray's conversations have an expansive tendency. \u003cb\u003eA single thread can lead him outwards in a web of connections, metaphors, jokes, \u003c\/b\u003ebefore he lands smoothly back on the point * Irish Times (Niamh Donnelly) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the finest — and funniest — novels of 2023\u003c\/b\u003e, this Booker-shortlisted tale of a troubled Irish family takes their financial, sexual and existential struggles and turns them into riotous comedy * The Times, 'Best Novels of 2023' *\u003cbr\u003eMurray gives us a capacious story of one Irish family that is \u003cb\u003eentertaining, heartbreaking and surprising\u003c\/b\u003e - few of the characters turn out to be exactly who you thought they'd be * iNews (Gwendolyn Smith) *\u003cbr\u003eI'm looking forward to Paul Murray's new family saga, \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e; he's\u003cb\u003e such a sharp and funny writer\u003c\/b\u003e -- David Nicholls\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Murray is my favourite young Irish novelist\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e confirms all of his talents. Settle in for a hilarious whirlwind of a familial socioeconomic misadventure as only Murray would write it\u003c\/b\u003e -- Gary Shteyngart, author of 'Super Sad True Love Story'\u003cbr\u003eEvery sentence in Paul Murray's brilliant family drama \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ecrackles with wit and ingenuity\u003c\/b\u003e * iNews (Michael Delgado) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA coruscating return\u003c\/b\u003e for a novelist who's been keeping us waiting for something special since 2010's \u003ci\u003eSkippy Dies . . . \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ea tragicomedy that never stints on great jokes - even at its saddest\u003c\/b\u003e * The Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e is far and away the most entertaining of the novels on this year’s Booker shortlist, \u003cb\u003ea fat slab of joyous readability – but which doesn’t stint on emotional depth\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Self * Independent *\u003cbr\u003ePaul Murray was robbed when it came to the Booker this year: his saga about a family scrambling for survival in recession blasted Ireland in 2008 is \u003cb\u003eone of the novels of the year\u003c\/b\u003e. Told from the perspective of four members of the Barnes family, and unspooling back in time to reveal a host of buried sentences, \u003cb\u003ethis effortlessly enjoyable novel overflows with human detail\u003c\/b\u003e * Daily Mail. 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the best novels of the year\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003cb\u003ea compelling, thought-provoking tragic-comic family drama\u003c\/b\u003e, told in multiple voices, and set in Ireland. The characters, of all ages, are memorable and convincing, the plot is a cracker and \u003cb\u003eit will keep you gripped, amused and provoked throughout 656 brilliant pages\u003c\/b\u003e * Independent, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *\u003cbr\u003eThis \u003cb\u003epropulsive, humane, thrillingly unpredictable story\u003c\/b\u003e of a family in free-fall was robbed at this year’s Booker . . . bold, original . . . Murray gives a totally fresh perspective on subjects from abuse to money, sexuality, love, climate disaster and violence, while \u003cb\u003econjuring characters who leap off the page\u003c\/b\u003e * i Paper, 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA tour de force of fiction\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Murray expertly gives us each family member’s perspective of the same events – with flashbacks unravelling an intricate story of betrayal, crime and lust. \u003cb\u003eProfound on the human condition, utterly gripping and peppered with comedy\u003c\/b\u003e, your giftee will love it just as much as our reviewer did * Independent, 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *\u003cbr\u003e[A] wonderful saga . . . [\u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e] brilliantly explores how our self-deceptions ultimately catch up with us, and is\u003cb\u003e at once hilarious and heartbreaking\u003c\/b\u003e * Booker Prize Judges *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA first-class piece of immersive fiction\u003c\/b\u003e – \u003cb\u003esharp-witted and clear-eyed but big-hearted\u003c\/b\u003e – that doesn’t feel as if it’s in retreat from reality -- Jake Kerridge * The Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eI’m going to climb on the log-rolling bandwagon by recommending Paul Murrays achingly tragicomic \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eFew, if any, Irish writers have ever succeeded in sketching contemporary midlands Ireland in such queasy yet humane detail\u003c\/b\u003e. Himself a Dub, Murray brings a rare outsiders eye to an unfashionable and overlooked milieu -- Ed O’Loughlin * Irish Times, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *\u003cbr\u003eTriumphant . . . the best sort of holiday reading: \u003cb\u003eengrossingly long, incredibly funny, impossibly sad\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Self * Irish Times, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e[\u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e] has been a revelation: I loved every second of reading this. \u003c\/b\u003eI found myself reaching for it on tubes and buses, stealing five minutes to read it as I waited for a coffee, staying up late to read in bed, despite my near-religious sleeping schedule.\u003cb\u003e It has been a pleasure to read, and to say that it’s changed my outlook on reading, my choices, and tastes, would be an understatement\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e has allowed me to re-evaluate my prior notions, and to get out of my own way for discovering new fiction -- Aimée Walsh * RTÉ *\u003cbr\u003eI’m a sucker for a tragicomic family saga [and] \u003cb\u003ePaul Murray has produced a masterpiece\u003c\/b\u003e of the form. \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e is a mosaic-like account of one family’s misery when their car business hits the skids in post-crash Ireland . . . \u003cb\u003eIt’s an engrossing (and hilarious) story \u003c\/b\u003eof blackmail and betrayal, thwarted romance and freak accidents * The Sunday Times, 'Best Books of 2023' *\u003cbr\u003eA family lurches into financial and emotional crisis in full view of judgmental neighbours in this \u003cb\u003eastute, remorselessly funny novel\u003c\/b\u003e that switches between survivalist father Dickie, spendaholic housewife Imelda, surly teenager Cass and her loner brother PJ. * Daily Express, 'Best Books of 2023' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFunny, lyrical and heartbreaking\u003c\/b\u003e, Paul Murray's Booker nominated family saga is perfect Betwixmas reading * The Standard, 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *\u003cbr\u003eAt over 600 pages, \u003ci\u003eThe Bee Sting\u003c\/i\u003e may not appear the friendliest looking of reads . . . but don’t let the length put you off – \u003cb\u003ethis book earns every page\u003c\/b\u003e . . . A tragicomedy, \u003cb\u003ethis novel is expansive in reach and has a climax that will stay with you long after the final page\u003c\/b\u003e * City A.M., 'Best Books of 2023' *\u003cbr\u003eThis is probably \u003cb\u003ethe most conventionally satisfying novel of 2023\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003cb\u003eIt is so engrossing that you will always want to be reading it\u003c\/b\u003e and after you have finished it the characters stay with you. Murray is ostensibly a comic novelist, but he’s dealing in laughter in the dark by the end of this novel, which tackles economic uncertainty, climate crisis and the secrets that can define a family without some of its members realising * i Paper, 'Best Books of 2023' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Murray is a confident, stylish writer\u003c\/b\u003e: he convincingly evokes a teenage girl’s rage, a boy’s fear, a father’s secrets and a mother’s disappointments and grief * The Economist, 'Best Books of 2023' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFunny and painful\u003c\/b\u003e with ghosts from the past and spectres from the future -- Clive Myrie * Observer *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733045817687,"sku":"9780241353950","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-bee-sting-9780241353950","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}