The Bee Sting

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This is an amazing book. One of the ten best of the year according to "The Washington Post," shortlisted for the Booker Prize, but it isn't simple to read.

Because it's set in Ireland, with Irish words, and one character's passages are printed sans periods.

But "The Bee Sting" is not "Ulysses," it's far from incomprehensible. But you'll find yourself rereading occasional passages for understanding, and it's far from short, 736 pages, in fact.

Turned off yet?

I was. I'd reserved "The Bee Sting" on Libby because of positive reviews. But I hadn't read the legendary Paul Murray book, "Skippy Dies," and when confronted with such a formidable task, reading one book in the time I could read two, I was discouraged, but I plowed in, for a taste, just to prove that it wasn't my thing.

But it turned out it was. Not that I knew that instantly.

No, I knew the subject matter was interesting, I just didn't know whether the writing was. You see the book started off with the life of Cassandra, a teenager, in the modern era, at the time of the financial crash. And she's a good student, and... School friendships. That's nailed in this book. Not only with Cass, but her younger brother PJ. They're your best friends and then a summer passes and they're not. They're hanging with other people and dissing you, wanting nothing to do with you.

And there's so much pressure to conform.

Oh, there's an incredible passage in the book, how we're all anxious, we're uptight, think we're different, but in truth we are all different and we can relate on that level. Ah, let me just quote a bit:

"...and you can see that beneath our individual quirks and weirdnesses, we're the same. We are the same in being different, in feeling bad about being different. Or to put it another way, we are all different expressions of the same vulnerability and need. That's what binds us together."

You won't get that in the newspaper.

And maybe that's the point, in a world that's going to hell in a handbasket, "The Bee Sting" is a respite, a whole 'nother world, but concomitantly it's even more true than the news, most of the art we're exposed to. This is not in superhero movies, a great streaming series can touch upon this, but words are better. As for music? It used to own this sphere, but no longer.

There's so much good stuff in this book. Insights. But it's not laden with these, you stumble on them every once in a while, which is why they resonate so much, like:

"That's the past, isn't it. You think it's behind you, then one day you walk into a room and it's there waiting for you."

Ain't that the truth. When you've written them off, believing they're deep in your history, they reappear. Or you find yourself in the same situation after you think you've grown past it.

But let's be clear, this is not fiction written for an award so much as a story. Yes, some of this highbrow literature is so dense and moves so slowly that when you get to the non-conclusion you wonder if it's written for anybody to read, it's impenetrable.

But not "The Bee Sting."

It's the story of a family.

The daughter who wants to distance herself from her parents.

The little brother who knows more facts than the oldsters, but is still not taken seriously.

The wife, who is the best looking woman in four counties.

And the husband... The scion of the owner of a VW dealership.

And then the recession hits. Turns out money held the family together.

And the wife grew up without money, with an outhouse, not indoor plumbing.

And the husband... He had a brother...

And you're reading the book and stuff you thought you had nailed is suddenly up for grabs.

But what is life, how do you make your decisions. You think it's going to all work out, and then you wake up at some point and find out it's far from your dream. Were you weak, did you make bad choices, or is this the way it is for everybody?

And how important is sex, desire. Can it trump the practical, does it always rear its head.

And do you live the prescribed life, the one laid out for you from nearly birth, or can you jump the tracks.

And when you go away to college... You grow, you become someone different, this schism causes tension, not only in the family, but in yourself.

Every member of the family's story is delineated.

And everybody has advantages, and everybody is challenged.

And they're all residents in a small town, where everybody knows everybody else, is deep in their business.

"The Bee Sting" is Franzen, but with a lighter tone. The last Franzen, "Crossroads," is a leap forward, there's less of an air of heaviness. But nowhere while reading "The Bee Sting" do you get the sense that Paul Murray is shooting for awards season, rather he's rubbing his hands, thrilled, laughing at times, over his plot choices.

This is not "Demon Copperhead." "The Bee Sting" is not quite a chore, but it takes a while to become riveted, to want to cast off your regular life and get back to it.

You want to know what happens, but you also want to read what the people think. There's a great combination of the interior and exterior.

And one thing that is done so well... We all think we know what is happening, and oftentimes we're just plain wrong. This happens all the time with gossip. Conventional wisdom is one way, but it's missing the point completely. Who you think is the father of the baby is not.

Don't read the above as instruction to immediately read "The Bee Sting." I need to warn you, this is not a mystery, this is not romance, it does not cut like butter. This is for serious readers who know how to commit, who are willing to work through the challenges to get to the nougat.

You know who you are. And if you're one of these people, I must tell you, "The Bee Sting" is OUTSTANDING!


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