Review | Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

13526165Bernadette Fox lives in yuppy Seattle and is surrounded by socialite moms who value image above all else. Her Microsoft big wig husband is somewhat vexed with Bernadette’s behavior. The woman who was once an architectural design wonder, has become a reclusive hermit of sorts.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette is told from Bee’s perspective, Bernadette’s daughter. Bernadette has seemingly disappeared and Bee is determined to find her mother. By compiling a slew of email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence, Bee pieces together the zany events leading up to Bernadette’s disappearance. But the question remains, where is Bernadette and can Bee find the woman she dearly loves??

Oh Bernadette, you made me laugh so much that I wanted to cry when your story was over. So far this year, I think this book has been my fave. I’m always looking for something to make me laugh. Don’t we all just need some more humor and smiles in our lives?? Well, I do, so when a book has me laughing out loud multiple times, it’s usually a win for me. I loved this book so much, that I wish I had written it. And if I were to write a novel, the narrator’s voice in this book, is type I’d want to convey my story from.

Love, love, loved. Hurry, go read, especially if you need a pick-me-up.

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Overall Rating: 5 of 5 stars false

Parent’s guide:

  • Sex: mild
  • Violence: none
  • Language: some swear words including at least one ‘F’ word

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Where'd You Go, Bernadette Book Cover Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Maria Semple
Fiction
Back Bay Books
August 14, 2012
Audio
335

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence--creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

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