Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
"I tore through this book with heedless pleasure."—Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom
Bernadette Fox has vanished.
When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces.
Which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades. Where'd You Go Bernadette is an ingenious and unabashedly entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are, and the power of a daughter's love for her mother.
MY OPINION: ****
This is my first official read of 2019 and I'm a little sad that it wasn't the BEST book that it could be but overall, it was enjoyable and well-written.
The movie is coming out in a couple of months so I was excited to read it before it was released!
The story itself is very original, in my opinion, as well as the way it's written. This book was a compilation of emails and notes and transcripts that a fifteen-year-old girl, Bee, puts together in an effort to uncover her mother's secrets and figure out where Bernadette disappeared to.
The book was largely unusual in its stories about each character. We meet a large variety of people who all have their own petty foolishness and we don't get a rose-colored perspective of them and rather see the ugly sides of every person.
The book was slow going and I wish it could have been sped up a little at times, though I suppose it all added to the mystery and originality of the story and its secrets. There were times when I laughed out loud at the preposterous remarks of Audrey Griffin, who I did not like at all for her annoyingly blind perception of her own son and her ability to turn a tiny thing into a disaster. Although I did like the sudden change in her by the end, though I don't know if we can call it character "growth."
The book was unique and amusing and something that I would most likely read again in the future. The whole idea of Antarctica also caught my eye because I've never read a book that had anything to do with the very far-off foreign place that sounds rather awful to me.
Something I liked about the book was the way that everything tied in to each by the end. I loved reading from different perspectives and seeing what the admin (who I can't remember her name of) thought about Elgin Branch, Bee's father, and what he thought of her, or what Bernadette thought of the two of them. (I did not at all ship it and I found the whole baby thing pointless and annoying).
I loved Elgin because even though his wife made him angry and worried and everything else, he still loved her and was loyal to her. I also loved his Microsoft job and the TEDTalk was beyond interesting (one of my favorite parts of the book!). I wish we got to see more of him though by the second half of the book, my interest in him petered out because of Bee's perception of him.
Bernadette was an agoraphobic, socially-awkward woman who had a large variety of problems that prompted her to turn to an Internet assistant (who we find very shocking things about). I found her character sort of relatable at times and at others completely off the wires.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and found it amusing. I can't wait for the film's release. I would recommend it to readers looking for a unique and enjoyable read.
Main Character: Bee, Bernadette
Sidekick(s): Elgin, Soo-Lin, Audrey (kind of), etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, confusion, Audrey (kind of), etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was very real to life.
Comments
Post a Comment