The Bee Sting by Paul Murray- Booker Prize 2023 Longlist

[@timnolan1192]

I don't handle anxiety too well, and in books it makes me start skimming so I can get to the end as soon as possible and find out what happens. I will need to read at least the last quarter of the book over, as I am sure I missed some fine writing. owever this quote struck as one of the most beautiful and devastating I have ever read (noticing his son and wife in the back yard) “Everything seems radiant with itself, and at the same time distant somehow, as if it were receding from him-moving away in time, while he stays where he is. This must be what it feels like to be dying, he thinks; the world remains around you like a lover who does not want to hurt you by leaving, but in spirit it’s already gone, taking with it the meaning of everything you shared.. In truth it is already transforming into a future you will never be part off; and you realize only then that it has been transforming all of this time , throughout your whole life, and you with it; and that, in fact, is life, though you never knew, and now it is over.”

[@mareeabee8293]

Thank you for sharing this quote! I’ve been waffling over this book for months and what you have shared is indeed very beautiful. You recommend??

[@BobTheBookerer]

Thank you for sharing that quote- he’s so good at putting in something utterly disarming around otherwise more humorous parts.

[@maryspila842]

Thank you for helping me sort through my thoughts on this powerful story.

[@gemmaware6823]

I loved this also. I was inexplicably hostile to it going in, just didn’t fancy it and it looked really long, but it was just so clever. I was completely duped with each section. Even when I realised how it was going. I realised I said to my husband that the book I was reading was so funny, before I suddenly got to Dickie’s first section. All the characters were so well developed. I was shouting out for PJ - no don’t! I listened to the audio for this and it was really good.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yes! It really surprised me in so many ways! I am so curious about the audio for it, especially because of the end section!

[@hairylittlewombat]

Hi Bob, I finished this book a couple of days ago. It was the last book I needed to read on the Booker Prize shortlist. I absolutely loved it and was hooked after the first two pages. That final chapter is so suspenseful and well structured. I loved the ending. It's my choice to take this years Booker.

[@lindaorton161]

Excellent synopsis. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and helping me to clarify mine!

[@BobTheBookerer]

Thank you so much!

[@dawn307]

I love the way the children are named and referred to: Cassandra who is famous for trying to warn people, well her interest in the climate crisis is maybe the only way she stays true to it. Of course, her name is shortened to Cass, perhaps reflecting her lifespan. Then there's PJ, even shorter. The way his schoold friend chages his name is also symbolic of his newly adolecent swlf consciousness of his differce, his impulse to deny who he is to fit in, like so many of the other characters.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yes! I love this! I’d wondered this for Cass, but hadn’t thought about it for the others!

[@joangavrilik3009]

Totally agree - this is masterful!

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yay, glad you liked it!

[@keithhicks5212]

This is the book that took me completely by surprise on the Booker list. I had heard nothing about it when the list was published and I was very cynical about it (how can this be better than In Memorium, Demon Copperhead etc), but then I read it. Wow! Like you I felt the very slow build up to the incredibly accelerating ending which had me so gripped, I did not want it to end but could not put it down. I thought the characters were totally believable and that cliffhanger of an ending was just so perfect. Of the 9 books on the longlist I’ve read so far it is by far my favourite for the prize.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yes! Exactly! It really pulled me in at the end- I was so in it! Very well handled, I think!

[@gregahunt]

loved this book

[@sarahmurphy7762]

Agree .... loved it! 5 stars

[@PabloReyesVelasco]

I loved the book but I found it deeply sad and tense. Tragedies that are showed or suggested are really hard and happen once you are captivated by the voice of the narrator and by the characters. So I would have preferred to know some about this in advance. Maybe I didn't get much of the humor that lots of readers found in the novel, but I think it's pretty bleak in general. I will miss the characters. Thanks for your video!

[@BobTheBookerer]

Ahh, totally fair! I’m always keen to hear people’s thoughts on the book!

[@bramblestown]

exactly, I recently finished this book. I found no humour. Not one giggle troughout. Don't understand the reviews that go on about the humour and I think I need to reread it all with a bit less anxiety maybe the humour will come through. Great read all the same

[@valliyarnl]

How prophet song won over this book truly baffles me

[@BobTheBookerer]

Aha, I think about this from time to time! I loved The Bee Sting!

[@TheGabrielberki]

I really loved the interlude I guess of the man finding the mythical hidden world in the hillside.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Aha, yes! So much fun!

[@aleanbh3808]

@@BobTheBookerernot fun fir poor Imelda. She believes in the Sidhe and worries it will happen to her. Perhaps it does (if she survives the forest)

[@krista6304]

Just finished this book last night as it only became available in Canada recently. The has been the most compelling, compulsive, deeply affecting read I’ve had in a long time. Definitely on my list of all-time favourite novels. Thank you for such a wonderful, in-depth review!

[@BobTheBookerer]

Sorry for the late reply! Glad you enjoyed it so much! I totally agree- it does so many things so well!

[@readandre-read]

Wow! I'm leaving now before the spoilers. This book is so hefty; I was waiting to hear if it was REALLY good. Now I'm interested!

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yes! I think you’ll have fun with it!

[@wednesdaygreenleaf9578]

Yes this book sucks you in so much!!! I'm at a friend's bachelorette party and I woke up earlier than everyone yesterday so I could finish it because I couldn't wait any longer 😂. So beautiful!!

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yes! I love it when books do that to you! And I love that! Enjoy!

[@isabelleangouleme]

I agree with everything you have said about Bee Sting! I too found if compulsive and utterly immersive. In my reading of it, however, the book is not open ended. *SPOILER* The opening paragraph of the novel foreshadows and spells out what likely happens in the end.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Oh my goodness- I completely missed that first paragraph’s relevance! Your comment made me go back and look at it- crikey! Well spotted! I’d love to re-read it knowing what I know now!

[@MusicbyMazie]

Wow this is brilliant. Thank you for the insight!! I just finished it so going back to read the first page was very powerful.

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

Since I’m still reading it…I can only watch spoiler free.I’m at Imelda’s section. I love PJ. ☘️👋🍀📖📕☕️📚🇮🇪

[@BobTheBookerer]

Oooh, I hope you continue to like it! Imelda is such a fascinating figure, I think!

[@kaes7041]

Thank you for this insightful and passionate book review, I really enjoyed it. But while listening, I was thinking: what do you do with your books? Sleep on them, use them as a stepladder, a broom? The cover looks so ragged😀. Just kidding of course, no offence meant, as I said, I really enjoy your book reviews, keep on posting, please ❤!

[@BobTheBookerer]

Thank you! Ahahah, totally fair! I’m normally better with covers, but I forgot to take the dust jacket off the book, and then managed to spill a drink my bag, so it looks like I got hungry 😂

[@bc-mv5se]

Awesome book. Awesome review. Pretty much sums it up 4 me 2. Ur a good reader Please do a vid on the random books behind u. What's that unicorn about?

[@BobTheBookerer]

Thank you so much! Aha, I will at some point! They’re a variety of books I’ve either had signed or that I’m meaning to read!

[@curioushmm9027]

wow...i want to read it.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Aha, yay! Have fun with it!

[@andrewevansmusic3222]

This is a relatively minor point (and I guess minor spoilers), and in such a long book I may have inadvertently missed something. But was there an explanation as to how Cass managed to pass her exams? We leave her in the exam hall, unable to write. Then PJ observes her studying obsessively, after the fact.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Ooh, good point- I didn’t notice that, but I can’t remember if that was clarified in the book!

[@murpho999]

Finished the audiobook a few days ago and really enjoyed it. At first the sudden ending shocked and annoyed me. Three days later still thinking about it and leaning towards thinking it was a masterful ending as it’s a book full of unfulfilled potentials. Really a great read/ listen. Also , not sure if it’s only funny for Irish people but a gay relationship between two guys called Willie and Dickie just has to be a joke. 😂

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yay! Glad to hear it! And yes! I think that ending really takes you through that rollercoaster! Ahah, yes! That made me chuckle too 😂

[@cmleidi]

Thank you for the review as it's a counterpoint to how I feel. I wish I had the same reaction to the book as you did. For the first half, I was with you, but then my reaction changed. At the halfway point, I just grew tired of the characters and Murray's storyline manipulations. I don't think we ever progress past a certain point because characters have to act in certain ways to move along the plot. Once I realized that characters would always behave in certain ways to move along the plot, the book became less interesting. Conversations that should happen never happen and we are left with endless discussions about the bunker. I also found Dickie's backstory borderline offensive in how it again plays into tropes that we too often see with characters like Dickie (trying to be vague). By the end, my main thought was how I wanted more about Willie and less about this family.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Ahh, totally fair! And yes, I suppose that’s the tricky thing with a book that is plot-heavy- it sort of means that certain things have to happen at certain times. And I get what you mean about the bunker parts! I’d have liked more of Willie too!

[@timnolan1192]

Bob- if you think of Cass by her given name Cassandra, it is easy to remember. Don’t know if the author meant her name to be significant. Maybe she was a prophet.

[@BobTheBookerer]

Thank you! And ooh, I hadn’t made that connection!

[@dawn307]

I think it's an ironic name - I don't think she 'sees' at all. She's convinced she's failed her exams (I think - while she initially tries to look backwards and see what Elaine is writing in the exam hall (also symbolic) - it's Elaine who copied her, hence the near identical exam results). She's another character in denial of who they are. Which may seem fairly usual, given her age and she certainly develops and allows more of her true self as the book progresses. The ending is fittingly reminiscent of the chorus in a Greek Tragedy

[@johnnamurraycamp5100]

I'm just shy of half way through and already LOVING The Bee Sting. I skipped your "spoilers," BtB, which I will revisit later, but as an Irish-American "Murray" from Greenwich Village, I'm grokking it. Wondering if Jason is to Falsettos (1981 American musical) as Cassie is to Bee Sting. I kinda hope so. I'm gobsmacked when folks think being a child of LGB parents is new. Nope. I'd be pleased if that's part of where this is novel is heading. Admittedly, my prediction might be totally off-track. I look forward to finding out!🤞 That said, there are MANY levels to this novel. Reading on!

[@johnnamurraycamp5100]

A clip of Paul Murray from Fall 2022, Boston College, in case it's of interest to you. Speedy reading of PJ from fairly early in the book at approx 50 minutes. I wonder if his mind's ear heard it all that fast!? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZeZi6CLbtSUsLc

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yay! Enjoy it! It’s such a deep and varied book, I think!

[@LarryHasOpinions]

i think i might like this...

[@BobTheBookerer]

I think you will- I’ll lend you my copy when I get it back from my friend!

[@LarryHasOpinions]

@@BobTheBookerer i did like it... :-D

[@user-yg6ft1iu1i]

It’s on my list so I need to skip the spoilers. I may have to move it up my list

[@BobTheBookerer]

Yay, thanks for stopping by! And enjoy it!

[@nickymaggio1909]

I LOVE your review. I LOVED this book. I was so surprised how much it moved me and has haunted me since I finished it. Really would love to see this shortlisted (and potentially win) :)

[@BobTheBookerer]

Thank you so much! And yes! I’m definitely rooting for it to be there!