...anyone who starts “The Bee Sting” will be immediately absorbed by this extraordinary story about the derailing of a once-prosperous family. Although Murray is a fantastically witty writer, his empathy with these characters is so deep that he can convey the comedy of their foibles without the condescending bitterness of satire. His command of their lives is so detailed that he can strip away every pretense and lie without spoiling a surprise. And, most impressive, while sinking into the peculiar flaws of this one uniquely troubled family, Murray captures the anxiety many of us feel living on the edge of economic ruin in these latter days of the Anthropocene Epoch.... Murray explores what it’s like to maintain the trappings of Western opulence at the inflection point of our planet’s health, to carry on with the masquerade of domestic life while harboring the knowledge that everything’s cooked. For some of these characters, that’s a terrifying prospect, of course, but for others, already broiling in the crucible of their own shame, a future sterilized by cataclysm is weirdly attractive.

In Paul Murray’s latest novel, “The Bee Sting” — an epic tale reaching back decades and spanning roughly 650 pages — things are pretty apocalyptic for one down-on-their-luck family, and that’s before we get to climate change. The problems, you might say, are coming from inside the house....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.

Mainly there is an inexorable trudging from bad to worse, with Murray tirelessly inventing fresh woes for the Barneses. And while financial pressure is a propulsive force—as it is to varying degrees in all his novels—other pressures come into play: sexual, religious, educational, community, parental, peer. It’s hard not to feel the author is piling on, not to wonder how the novel might have gained from some comic relief. At the same time, no moment or episode is implausible, and carried by Murray’s fine, measured prose and uncanny plotting, the book presents a striking abundance of what for too many may be normal life. A grim and demanding and irresistible anatomy of misfortune.

The title “The Bee Sting” sets the tone before the reader knows how to separate false chords from genuine ones in the novel. Cass may not be the shallow Irish valley girl she at first appears to be. PJ may see more than he seems to at first. The economy may not be the catalyst for the characters’ problems. The source of all the difficulty may be self-deceit.