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| my new hardback copy consult trigger warnings for this read |
Here's the shortest 5 star review: I bought a physical copy of this novel for my shelf!!! I own less than 30 books, so that tells you something.
I'll do my best to put my feelings about this novel into words. This is definitely a time when having a BookTube channel would be beneficial. I spoke my feelings about this novel out loud to my daughter as soon as I was finished reading it- I just HAD to say something immediately.
This intergenerational family saga captures ALL of what is universal to the human experience:
- longing
- love
- secrets
- infatuation
- desperation
The Bee Sting is so wonderfully done from the different POVs of the main characters within this family. Each family members is fully formed, deeply drawn, and their characters are well and truly fleshed out. I could see and feel into the soul's of each of these family members.
I loathe spoilers, so without any details let me say that I found myself crying during several points in this novel.
If anything this novel reads as a cautionary tale of what can happen when parents don't actually pay attention to their children's lives; what happens when women are in marriages without a deep sense of self; and what happens to unprotected children both emotionally and physically.
Every time I consider that I should stop following book prizes and only read classics, a novel like this crosses my life and changes my mind completely.
The Bee Sting is 656 pages of seriously well written, well developed characterization and story telling that will make you question so much about how you have experienced the world.
This happened to me before with Claire Fuller's Unsettled Ground. This novel was shortlisted for the Women's Prize and it won the Costa Novel Award in 2021.
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| a favorite read of 2021 |
I feel like I need to sit with this novel for longer and then I will come back and give a more coherent review.
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