Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like The Bee Sting
The best books like The Bee Sting are Educated: A Memoir, Angela's Ashes, and The Namesake. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray is about class anxiety and decline, family dysfunction, secrets and self-deception. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Educated: A Memoir
01
Tara Westover · Memoir
Educated is Tara Westover's memoir about growing up in a survivalist family in rural Idaho and eventually earning a PhD in history from Cambridge University.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Angela's Ashes
02
Frank McCourt · Memoir
Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's memoir of a catastrophically impoverished Irish Catholic childhood, first in Brooklyn and then in Limerick, during the 1930s and 1940s.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Namesake
03
Jhumpa Lahiri · Literary fiction
The Namesake follows the Ganguli family across three decades, beginning with Ashoke and Ashima's arranged marriage and their immigration from Calcutta to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and extending into the American adulthood of their son, Gogol.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary →
- Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
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Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe · History
Empire of Pain is Patrick Radden Keefe's account of the Sackler family — the dynasty behind Purdue Pharma and the opioid crisis — told across three generations.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
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Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Trevor Noah · Memoir
Born a Crime is Trevor Noah's memoir about growing up mixed-race in South Africa during the final years of apartheid and its chaotic aftermath.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Corrections
06
Jonathan Franzen · Literary fiction
Jonathan Franzen's third novel, published in 2001 and winner of the National Book Award, follows the Lambert family across three adult children and their aging parents, Alfred and Enid, through the late 1990s.
Both dig into family dysfunction.
Read the summary → - Adult Children of Alcoholics
07
Janet G. Woititz · Psychology
Adult Children of Alcoholics is Janet Woititz's clinical guide to the lasting psychological patterns that develop in children raised in alcoholic families.
Both dig into family dysfunction.
Read the summary → - Don't Breathe a Word
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Jennifer McMahon · Thriller
On a hot June night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa vanishes into the woods behind her family's house.
Both dig into family dysfunction.
Read the summary → - Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
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Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
J. D. Vance · Memoir
Hillbilly Elegy is J.
Both dig into family dysfunction.
Read the summary → - The Glass Castle: A Memoir
10
Jeannette Walls · Memoir
The Glass Castle is Jeannette Walls's memoir about growing up as the second of four children in a family that moved constantly across the American Southwest and West Virginia, rarely had enough to eat, and existed almost entirely outside conventional institutions.
Both dig into family dysfunction.
Read the summary → - A Farewell to Arms
11
Ernest Hemingway · Literary fiction
A Farewell to Arms is set during the First World War in northern Italy and follows Frederic Henry, an American serving as a lieutenant in the Italian ambulance corps, who falls in love with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Fine Balance
12
Rohinton Mistry · Literary fiction
A Fine Balance is set in an unnamed Indian city during Indira Gandhi's Emergency of 1975–1977, a period of suspended democracy, forced sterilization, and slum clearances that is barely taught in the West and barely taught in India.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Bee Sting: quick answers
What are the best books like The Bee Sting?
The best books like The Bee Sting by Paul Murray are Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Bee Sting, such as class anxiety and decline, family dysfunction, secrets and self-deception.
What should I read after The Bee Sting?
A natural next read after The Bee Sting is Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe.
What books are similar to The Bee Sting by Paul Murray?
The Bee Sting centers on class anxiety and decline, family dysfunction, secrets and self-deception. Books with a similar feel include Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
