Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Back Bay Books (2013), Edition: Reprint, 352 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times). 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 her best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette vanishes. It all 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, and secret correspondence �?? creating a compulsively readable and surprisingly touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absu… (more)
Media reviews
The book stumbles a bit in the middle as it transitions from a scathing anti-Seattle manifesto into a family drama with comic undertones. But once the gears have finished their grinding and the shuddering subsides, Semple eases into her strongest work yet, allowing her characters to change in a way
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that suits the story, and not just shooting for an easy punch line or a sharply worded barb. In the end, with its big heart set on acceptance, Bernadette feels something like coming home. Show Less
The tightly constructed “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” is written in many formats — e-mails, letters, F.B.I. documents, correspondence with a psychiatrist and even an emergency-room bill for a run-in between Bernadette and Audrey. Yet these pieces are strung together so wittily that Ms.
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Semple’s storytelling is always front and center, in sharp focus. You could stop and pay attention to how apt each new format is, how rarely she repeats herself and how imaginatively she unveils every bit of information. But you would have to stop laughing first. Show Less
Semple is a TV comedy writer, and the pleasures of Where'd You Go, Bernadette are the pleasures of the best American TV: plot, wit and heart. (There are places where Semple really wants to be writing dialogue, and stretches the epistolary conceit of the novel to suit.) It's rather refreshing to
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find a female misunderstood genius at the heart of a book, and a mother-daughter relationship characterised by unadulterated mutual affection. If Bernadette is a monster of ego, Semple suggests, so are most people, when they're being honest. In her spiky but essentially feelgood universe, failure and self-exposure open up a rich seam of comedy, but shame can always be vanquished by love Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member lit_chick
“The next thing I knew, he had removed four wisdom teeth and now I can’t go to Antarctica. Here in America, we call that a win-win.”
Bernadette Fox, an award-winning genius architect turned unemployed, agoraphobic, misanthropic introvert, hires an Internet assistant from India to conduct all
What I Liked: Semple’s humourous portrayal of the complications we’ve laden on previously simple routines in our effort to “make life easier” with advanced technology is spot-on: “Dad tap-tap-tap-tapped across the floor in his bicycle shoes and plugged his heart-rate monitor into his laptop to download his workout.” Bee’s prestigious “grades-erode self-esteem type school” was wonderfully tongue-in-cheek. And the sharp wit aimed at corporate culture also hits its mark.
What I Didn’t Like: Bernadette’s toy chest of anger, envy, childishness, self-absorption, and self-pity were a bit (okay, a lot) too much. I found her over-dramatic, to say the least, and often not as funny as she apparently found herself:
“My intention was never to grow old in this dreary upper-left corner of the Lower Forty-eight. I just wanted to leave L.A. in a snit, lick my considerably wounded ego, and when I determined that everyone felt sufficiently sorry for me, unfurl my cape and swoop in to launch my second act and show those bastards who the true bitch goddess of architecture really is.”
Where’d You Go, Bernadette is not one I will widely recommend, but it is light, quick reading, and Semple does offer some decent humour and satire, so if that’s your pleasure, by all means.
Bernadette Fox, an award-winning genius architect turned unemployed, agoraphobic, misanthropic introvert, hires an Internet assistant from India to conduct all
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daily, basic, mundane chores – tasks which she has convinced herself she is no longer capable of performing. Her Microsoft-executive husband, also completely absorbed in his own importance, is ignorant of his wife’s “outsourcing” of her life, that is until the Indian assistant, Manjoula, turns out to be neither Indian or a virtual assistant (well, not the kind Fox thinks she has hired). When Bernadette’s daughter, Bee, produces the perfect report card, she declares that her promised reward will be a family trip to Antarctica. In the meantime, Audrey Griffen, a “Mercedes parent” from Bee’s private school, enabler-extraordinaire to her doper son, and neighbour from hell is raising cane (or perhaps raising blackberry bushes would be a better expression). And the plot thickens.What I Liked: Semple’s humourous portrayal of the complications we’ve laden on previously simple routines in our effort to “make life easier” with advanced technology is spot-on: “Dad tap-tap-tap-tapped across the floor in his bicycle shoes and plugged his heart-rate monitor into his laptop to download his workout.” Bee’s prestigious “grades-erode self-esteem type school” was wonderfully tongue-in-cheek. And the sharp wit aimed at corporate culture also hits its mark.
What I Didn’t Like: Bernadette’s toy chest of anger, envy, childishness, self-absorption, and self-pity were a bit (okay, a lot) too much. I found her over-dramatic, to say the least, and often not as funny as she apparently found herself:
“My intention was never to grow old in this dreary upper-left corner of the Lower Forty-eight. I just wanted to leave L.A. in a snit, lick my considerably wounded ego, and when I determined that everyone felt sufficiently sorry for me, unfurl my cape and swoop in to launch my second act and show those bastards who the true bitch goddess of architecture really is.”
Where’d You Go, Bernadette is not one I will widely recommend, but it is light, quick reading, and Semple does offer some decent humour and satire, so if that’s your pleasure, by all means.
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LibraryThing member richardderus
Rating: 1.6* of five (p97)
The Book Description: 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
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.
My Review: I do not care where this stupid, whining woman went. I want her to stay there and remain anonymous.
Awful. Negative. Condescending to agoraphobics.
It's as noxious as Gone Girl, and cloaked in humor instead of viciousness it still makes me mad. Jonathan Franzen liked it, so did Garth Stein and Kate Atkinson. Note to self: When writers whose work you dislike intensely blurb a book, ignore the hype and avoid it.
The Book Description: 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
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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.
My Review: I do not care where this stupid, whining woman went. I want her to stay there and remain anonymous.
Awful. Negative. Condescending to agoraphobics.
It's as noxious as Gone Girl, and cloaked in humor instead of viciousness it still makes me mad. Jonathan Franzen liked it, so did Garth Stein and Kate Atkinson. Note to self: When writers whose work you dislike intensely blurb a book, ignore the hype and avoid it.
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Bernadette Fox was once an award-winning architect, and now lives in Seattle with her husband Elgin Branch and their daughter, Bee. Bernadette gave up her work when Elgin took a position with Microsoft; he is widely recognized as a genius. Bernadette has become a recluse, leaving her house only
The story is told through a series of emails, letters, and other documents. Bernadette initially comes across as just quirky, but deeper issues are soon revealed that challenge the family's overall stability. The "gnats" also prove to be more complex characters than they seem, showing there is always more than one side to any story. The central conflict and its resolution bordered on the preposterous at times, but the light writing style was misleading. Beneath the surface is a novel with surprising emotional impact.
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when absolutely necessary and relying on an India-based "personal assistant" to handle most of her administrative responsibilities. She has an antagonistic relationship with other school parents, who she refers to as "gnats." Bee started life with a serious heart condition and is now a precocious eight-grader at a second-tier private school. To celebrate Bee's upcoming graduation, the family plans a trip to Antarctica over the Christmas holiday. But as the date approaches, Bernadette disappears, and a more complex story emerges.The story is told through a series of emails, letters, and other documents. Bernadette initially comes across as just quirky, but deeper issues are soon revealed that challenge the family's overall stability. The "gnats" also prove to be more complex characters than they seem, showing there is always more than one side to any story. The central conflict and its resolution bordered on the preposterous at times, but the light writing style was misleading. Beneath the surface is a novel with surprising emotional impact.
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LibraryThing member varwenea
This book was a wilder ride than I anticipated, taking me to places I wasn't expecting - much more emotional, many more smiles, grins, and smirks as I plow through the Seattle references. Though I'm a transplant (I think this is a Seattle or NW term!), I've been here 20+ years and appreciate
1) Slow drivers - Yes! Just as accurate is excessively nice drivers that hinder traffic flow.
2) Craftsman homes everywhere - Yes, but better now.
3) Microsoft (MS) world domination - See also Google, Apple, and Amazon.
4) Full of "compassionate" people - Yes! Ref 1).
5) Resentment about MS money - NO! MS money is considered local. CA money is the despicable source.
6) "Seattle Freeze" - 50/50 - Yes on dating, No on making friends.
7) Working at the MS office in stocking feet (or socks) - Yes! But true for all high tech companies.
8) Talking about the rain even though it rains all the time - Yes!
I smiled at Bernadette's mockery of other areas too:
"She was a drab type, with a ten-gallon ass, unctuous toward the waiters in some 'see how well I treat the help' show of superiority. (I think it's a midwestern thing.)"
"Those East Coast rich kids are a different breed, on a fast track to nowhere. Your friends in Seattle are downright Canadian in their niceness."
Back to the book itself, the author uses correspondences as the primary vehicle. The novel mostly moves forward and jumps to the past-tense to give background story, including the final 'unveiling' letter completing the plot and giving closure. It was easy to follow.
The main characters are fairly unique. Bernadette/Mom, closed-off yet exuding great intelligence, can't be bothered by the "gnats" of life and is naturally wired to design. My heart goes to Bee, the daughter, who is not only book smart but also logical, loyal to her mom, and fends off comments about her being sick (heart defect at birth). Elgin, the dad, who is a CVP at MS, works endless hours. All three (and others in the book) go through variants of self-discovery, re-connection, forgiveness, and acceptance.
Not the typical page turner where I forget everything the second I finish, this book was worthy of my time.
Some quotes:
It is TRUE that Chihuly's are everywhere, and everyone takes pictures of them!
"Hovering over me was the Chihuly chandelier. Chihulys are the pigeons of Seattle. They're everywhere and even if they don't get in your way, you can't help but build up a kind of antipathy toward them"
I want to try this at work, though doubtful it'll be accepted.
"There's a story that during the filming of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola had a sign on his trailer: "Fast, Cheap, Good: Pick Two."
I laughed cuz 'chew and spit' is how I think about some people.
"Yes, I've hauled my sorry ass to a shrink. I went to some guy here, the best in Seattle. It took me about three sessions to fully chew the poor fucker up and spit him out."
Bernadette's anxiety - graphic.
"Even sleeping makes my heart race! I'm lying in bed when the thumping arrives, like a foreign invader. It's a horrible dark mass, like the monolith in 2001, self-organized but completely unknowable, and it enters my body and releases adrenaline. Like a black hole, it sucks in any benign thoughts that might be scrolling across my brain and attaches visceral panic to them.
Bee's thought on religion, upon hearing 'O Holy Night' performed.
"Maybe that's what religion is, hurling yourself off a cliff and trusting that something bigger will take care of you and carry you to the right place."
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laughing at the references. So let's start with those:1) Slow drivers - Yes! Just as accurate is excessively nice drivers that hinder traffic flow.
2) Craftsman homes everywhere - Yes, but better now.
3) Microsoft (MS) world domination - See also Google, Apple, and Amazon.
4) Full of "compassionate" people - Yes! Ref 1).
5) Resentment about MS money - NO! MS money is considered local. CA money is the despicable source.
6) "Seattle Freeze" - 50/50 - Yes on dating, No on making friends.
7) Working at the MS office in stocking feet (or socks) - Yes! But true for all high tech companies.
8) Talking about the rain even though it rains all the time - Yes!
I smiled at Bernadette's mockery of other areas too:
"She was a drab type, with a ten-gallon ass, unctuous toward the waiters in some 'see how well I treat the help' show of superiority. (I think it's a midwestern thing.)"
"Those East Coast rich kids are a different breed, on a fast track to nowhere. Your friends in Seattle are downright Canadian in their niceness."
Back to the book itself, the author uses correspondences as the primary vehicle. The novel mostly moves forward and jumps to the past-tense to give background story, including the final 'unveiling' letter completing the plot and giving closure. It was easy to follow.
The main characters are fairly unique. Bernadette/Mom, closed-off yet exuding great intelligence, can't be bothered by the "gnats" of life and is naturally wired to design. My heart goes to Bee, the daughter, who is not only book smart but also logical, loyal to her mom, and fends off comments about her being sick (heart defect at birth). Elgin, the dad, who is a CVP at MS, works endless hours. All three (and others in the book) go through variants of self-discovery, re-connection, forgiveness, and acceptance.
Not the typical page turner where I forget everything the second I finish, this book was worthy of my time.
Some quotes:
It is TRUE that Chihuly's are everywhere, and everyone takes pictures of them!
"Hovering over me was the Chihuly chandelier. Chihulys are the pigeons of Seattle. They're everywhere and even if they don't get in your way, you can't help but build up a kind of antipathy toward them"
I want to try this at work, though doubtful it'll be accepted.
"There's a story that during the filming of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola had a sign on his trailer: "Fast, Cheap, Good: Pick Two."
I laughed cuz 'chew and spit' is how I think about some people.
"Yes, I've hauled my sorry ass to a shrink. I went to some guy here, the best in Seattle. It took me about three sessions to fully chew the poor fucker up and spit him out."
Bernadette's anxiety - graphic.
"Even sleeping makes my heart race! I'm lying in bed when the thumping arrives, like a foreign invader. It's a horrible dark mass, like the monolith in 2001, self-organized but completely unknowable, and it enters my body and releases adrenaline. Like a black hole, it sucks in any benign thoughts that might be scrolling across my brain and attaches visceral panic to them.
Bee's thought on religion, upon hearing 'O Holy Night' performed.
"Maybe that's what religion is, hurling yourself off a cliff and trusting that something bigger will take care of you and carry you to the right place."
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LibraryThing member Copperskye
Funny and smart and warm-hearted! Seattle wife, mom, and former architect, Bernadette, goes missing and the whole story unfolds via letters, emails, and FBI notes. Highly recommended - it'll be one of my favorites this year. It was a real treat.
LibraryThing member avanders
This was also a book group book and, in fact, it was recommended to us by a non-book group member! I am posting my separate review here because I expect that a lot of the Desert Girls will have a lot to say about this book, separate from my thoughts.
I really really really enjoyed this book. I FLEW
The book is touted and/or implies that it is a mystery. Bernadette has disappeared and we must discover where she went. This is not a particularly accurate description. Bernadette does disappear, but not until more than halfway through and then... well, you're not really unsure about where she went. You don't know for certain, but you can piece it together pretty well.
Instead, the book is really a wonderfully told story about a rather dysfunctional family (aren't they all), with a mother (Bernadette) who is a genius hermit former architect, the daughter (Bee) who is a brilliant young girl with a medical history and a love of life, and the father (Elgie) who is a workaholic genius microsoft project head who loves his family, if from a distance. Blech, sounds boring the way I just did that. Trust me, it's not.
The characters are quirky, crazy, relatable, totally un-relatable, enraging, off-putting, loving, spiteful, and the complete heart of the story. Semple does not describe her characters in the traditional sense; rather, she provides enough information to give you an outline, and a bevy of personality traits for the reader to fill in the details. The story is less the point, focusing instead on the development of the characters and their character.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bernadette, and I highly recommend. What made the book not perfect was the ending, which sort of dropped, just a little, in its intrigue. The resolution was just a little less climactic than I would have hoped. But it did not detract from the book as a whole, and it did not leave me feeling frustrated... just a little less than perfectly satisfied.
Highly recommend. (review and others at tometombfidelity.blogspot.com)
I really really really enjoyed this book. I FLEW
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through the first half... as my bath got cold. Bernadette is a sort of mixed media book, using letters, emails, transcripts, etc. to tell the story. There is a little bit of narration by Bee (daughter) throughout the first 2/3 or so, and then quite a bit more narration in the latter portion. The Desert Girls recently read Wife 22, which was also a mixed-media book, but Bernadette took the concept and, really, showed the world how it should be done.The book is touted and/or implies that it is a mystery. Bernadette has disappeared and we must discover where she went. This is not a particularly accurate description. Bernadette does disappear, but not until more than halfway through and then... well, you're not really unsure about where she went. You don't know for certain, but you can piece it together pretty well.
Instead, the book is really a wonderfully told story about a rather dysfunctional family (aren't they all), with a mother (Bernadette) who is a genius hermit former architect, the daughter (Bee) who is a brilliant young girl with a medical history and a love of life, and the father (Elgie) who is a workaholic genius microsoft project head who loves his family, if from a distance. Blech, sounds boring the way I just did that. Trust me, it's not.
The characters are quirky, crazy, relatable, totally un-relatable, enraging, off-putting, loving, spiteful, and the complete heart of the story. Semple does not describe her characters in the traditional sense; rather, she provides enough information to give you an outline, and a bevy of personality traits for the reader to fill in the details. The story is less the point, focusing instead on the development of the characters and their character.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bernadette, and I highly recommend. What made the book not perfect was the ending, which sort of dropped, just a little, in its intrigue. The resolution was just a little less climactic than I would have hoped. But it did not detract from the book as a whole, and it did not leave me feeling frustrated... just a little less than perfectly satisfied.
Highly recommend. (review and others at tometombfidelity.blogspot.com)
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LibraryThing member Perednia
WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE could have gone in so many directions. Maria Semple's novel, told from various points of view and in emails, letters and journal entries, starts off in full-blown, glorious snark mode. The parents of a snooty Seattle private school's children have their knickers in a
Bee wants to see Antarctica as a graduation present. Because Bernadette cannot face people, she hires a virtual assistant in India to make the arrangements. Below their house, which is really a rundown former school, Audrey Griffin wants to hold a fundraising party for Bee's school. (Her son also attends.) The goal is to attract the best Mercedes parents, like one of the Pearl Jam band members. It doesn't have to be Eddie Vedder.
Audrey is a gnat to Bernadette. She demands Bernadette remove the rambling blackberry bushes from her yard before the party. The fact that it's winter and the hillside will lose its cover to battle erosion do not occur to Audrey. Then again, she's also the kind of parent who wonders what the principal is doing looking in her son's locker. After all, "don't they have locks on them? Isn't that why they're called lockers?"
Bee's dad, Elgin, is up against a tight deadline at work. His new admin assistant, Soo-Lin, is another prep school gnat, um, parent. Soo-Lin is a divorced single mother who attends Victims Against Victimhood meetings. Complications will, of course, ensue as lives become entangled.
It all gets to be too much for Bee's mother. So she disappears two days before Christmas. And Bee decides to find her. That's when the novel hits its true stride and the reader discovers its deep heart.
As the story begins, the satire and snark are delicious. Semple began the novel after moving to the unknown territory known as Seattle, and to someone who has watched the pretentiousness present in some Emerald City residents from the other side of the Cascades since before Microsoft, Starbucks and grunge rock existed, she is spot on.
But like all great novelists who use various forms of humor, Semple knows when to add layers of emotional depth. Bernadette has good reasons to do what she does, and few of the characters turn out to be as cartoonish as they may appear at first. There is a great set piece of sorts when the novel changes tone, a long letter Bernadette writes to a former colleague about her life as a MacArthur grant-winning architect and the birth of Bee. His response to the letter is nearly the same as the one that Semple received as she adapted to a city she now loves, after Bernadette has poured out her heart for pages:
"Bernadette,
Are you done? You can't honestly believe any of this nonsense. People like you must create. If you don't create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society."
To see what Bernadette does next is not revealed until the end, and there is far too much tell rather than show in the revealing, but it is still a resolution that rings true emotionally and fits these characters just right.
Best of all, Bee is a delightful creation. A brilliant, intrepid daughter could be too twee a character, but Semple keeps Bee from going too far into that territory. Instead, Bee is a fully realized character who just happens to be the youngest of the main ones in this novel. And, just as Semple handles the various voices who relate the narrative, she also allows more than one main character to have her own journey of discovery.
These are characters worth knowing, and their story is one well worth discovering.
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twist over the antics of fish-out-of-water Bernadette. She is a reclusive, misanthropic famed architect and mother of talented prodigy Bee. Dad is a Microsoft muckymuck who has one of the most-viewed TED talks ever.Bee wants to see Antarctica as a graduation present. Because Bernadette cannot face people, she hires a virtual assistant in India to make the arrangements. Below their house, which is really a rundown former school, Audrey Griffin wants to hold a fundraising party for Bee's school. (Her son also attends.) The goal is to attract the best Mercedes parents, like one of the Pearl Jam band members. It doesn't have to be Eddie Vedder.
Audrey is a gnat to Bernadette. She demands Bernadette remove the rambling blackberry bushes from her yard before the party. The fact that it's winter and the hillside will lose its cover to battle erosion do not occur to Audrey. Then again, she's also the kind of parent who wonders what the principal is doing looking in her son's locker. After all, "don't they have locks on them? Isn't that why they're called lockers?"
Bee's dad, Elgin, is up against a tight deadline at work. His new admin assistant, Soo-Lin, is another prep school gnat, um, parent. Soo-Lin is a divorced single mother who attends Victims Against Victimhood meetings. Complications will, of course, ensue as lives become entangled.
It all gets to be too much for Bee's mother. So she disappears two days before Christmas. And Bee decides to find her. That's when the novel hits its true stride and the reader discovers its deep heart.
As the story begins, the satire and snark are delicious. Semple began the novel after moving to the unknown territory known as Seattle, and to someone who has watched the pretentiousness present in some Emerald City residents from the other side of the Cascades since before Microsoft, Starbucks and grunge rock existed, she is spot on.
But like all great novelists who use various forms of humor, Semple knows when to add layers of emotional depth. Bernadette has good reasons to do what she does, and few of the characters turn out to be as cartoonish as they may appear at first. There is a great set piece of sorts when the novel changes tone, a long letter Bernadette writes to a former colleague about her life as a MacArthur grant-winning architect and the birth of Bee. His response to the letter is nearly the same as the one that Semple received as she adapted to a city she now loves, after Bernadette has poured out her heart for pages:
"Bernadette,
Are you done? You can't honestly believe any of this nonsense. People like you must create. If you don't create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society."
To see what Bernadette does next is not revealed until the end, and there is far too much tell rather than show in the revealing, but it is still a resolution that rings true emotionally and fits these characters just right.
Best of all, Bee is a delightful creation. A brilliant, intrepid daughter could be too twee a character, but Semple keeps Bee from going too far into that territory. Instead, Bee is a fully realized character who just happens to be the youngest of the main ones in this novel. And, just as Semple handles the various voices who relate the narrative, she also allows more than one main character to have her own journey of discovery.
These are characters worth knowing, and their story is one well worth discovering.
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LibraryThing member HenryKrinkle
Riotously unfunny "comic" novel about a genius Macarthur Fellow who disappears when her husband (also a genius!) attempts tp put her in the loonie bin. Two of the main narrators spend much of their time as sock puppets for lame rants about Seattle. After making plot holes big enough to sail the
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Queen Mary through, the book draws attention to them as if to say "I meant to do that." Semple telegraphs her punches like Rocky Balboa on Oxycontin (i.e. Rocky Balboa from "Rocky V). "Where'd You Go Bernadette" is doomed to be Sandra Bullock movie. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Writing humor alone is a difficult task. Making it farce is even harder. Combining that with a novel plot and distinct characters is almost unheard of. And to do it in epistolary format??? OMG as Bee’s friends would say. Oh and then there’s heart. This novel has it and all that other stuff in
When it first came out, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? got lots of attention. People raved over it. I resisted. So many books aimed at women are just too sentimental for me and I put this in that bucket. Allow me to take it out. Sentimental is not something I’d call Bernadette, or anyone else in the book. Sure, it’s the story of a family and one whose members are genuinely connected to each other. But it isn’t soppy and the kid, Bee, isn’t an eyesore. I liked her which is really hard to make me do. Bernadette’s past and present are effectively mysterious and the cast of neighbors and hangers on are fabulous. The ending, while not assured, is reassuring and appropriate.
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spades. When it first came out, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? got lots of attention. People raved over it. I resisted. So many books aimed at women are just too sentimental for me and I put this in that bucket. Allow me to take it out. Sentimental is not something I’d call Bernadette, or anyone else in the book. Sure, it’s the story of a family and one whose members are genuinely connected to each other. But it isn’t soppy and the kid, Bee, isn’t an eyesore. I liked her which is really hard to make me do. Bernadette’s past and present are effectively mysterious and the cast of neighbors and hangers on are fabulous. The ending, while not assured, is reassuring and appropriate.
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LibraryThing member tipsy_writer
Loved this book. No, it wasn't a life changer, but if you're looking for a good easy read for those summer afternoons then this is really a great choice. Great character development and I loved that a large portion of the story was written in letters or other thoughts.
LibraryThing member bowedbookshelf
This was a curious novel. I have to admit Semple had me wondering what she was about by making all her characters such…characters. That is, there was nothing to hold onto when it came to a center, except perhaps the teen, Bee, (full name Balakrishna, or "divine child"). But just as in days when
Bernadette is an architect who stopped working when she ran afoul of a neighbor, a wealthy entrepreneur with questionable taste, who tore down a Bernadette house that helped her win a MacArthur Award for ingenuity and resourcefulness. The neighbor did it out of pique. Semple describes for us how this could be. No one comes out looking fair or lovely.
Bernadette worked with materials that would probably be rejected by other architects. They might be used, defective, items of trash, but she gave everything a new life in a work of architectural art. “Bernadette Fox is a very feminine architect. When you walk into Beeber Bifocal, you’re overwhelmed by the care and the patience that was put into it. It’s like walking into a big hug.”
I know the kind of mindset and patience it takes to create art from what others would term “nothing.” So I get where she is coming from. Where I got confused was her outsized sense of rightness and privilege. At one point she told her daughter who that boredom is something she needed to fix by herself. Then she falls for the same trap, later telling her daughter “the banality of life” can sometimes be overwhelming. Bernadette forgets sometimes that she is not the font of all wisdom. I guess the point is that there is movement in this book. Characters have moments of crisis, and must resolve them in order to continue living.
But truthfully, I almost didn’t get to the end of this novel. It was amusing at first, until it began to chafe. There is nothing wrong with having a moral point in a novel, but we were clobbered with this one. Everyone had some schtick that made them hard to take, except Bee, and she had learned from her parents, so a few times was a little harsher than she needed to be while pushing her own point of view. Was this Semple’s point? That adults can be jerks, and children will get there someday? Clever, but I could have done without the sarcasm.
This book had been recommended to me, so it has been on my list. When I found an audiofile available, I grabbed it. Usually I also order the hard copy to clarify points when I want to write a review. My library, however, had all their numerous copies out for YA “summer reading.” Interesting. I would never have chosen this title for high school summer reading. If the kids get to the end, when everybody starts to realize they need each other in order to be whole, they have spent many hours immersed in severe dysfunctional behaviors. I’m not at all sure we need to confirm their suspicions that adults are creeps, considering how far the teens have to go before they are perfect.
Anyway, I did finish. Semple is tough. At this point in the review I realize that Semple may be writing for teens after all. I still wouldn’t have chosen this title for summer reading. I would choose something that gives glamour to language. But there you have it. I’m not the font of all wisdom, either.
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authors wrote satires that did not contain people so close to how we live now (I am thinking of the 20th Century Russians who were so cruelly censored), this is screamin' crazy satire. Bernadette is an architect who stopped working when she ran afoul of a neighbor, a wealthy entrepreneur with questionable taste, who tore down a Bernadette house that helped her win a MacArthur Award for ingenuity and resourcefulness. The neighbor did it out of pique. Semple describes for us how this could be. No one comes out looking fair or lovely.
Bernadette worked with materials that would probably be rejected by other architects. They might be used, defective, items of trash, but she gave everything a new life in a work of architectural art. “Bernadette Fox is a very feminine architect. When you walk into Beeber Bifocal, you’re overwhelmed by the care and the patience that was put into it. It’s like walking into a big hug.”
I know the kind of mindset and patience it takes to create art from what others would term “nothing.” So I get where she is coming from. Where I got confused was her outsized sense of rightness and privilege. At one point she told her daughter who that boredom is something she needed to fix by herself. Then she falls for the same trap, later telling her daughter “the banality of life” can sometimes be overwhelming. Bernadette forgets sometimes that she is not the font of all wisdom. I guess the point is that there is movement in this book. Characters have moments of crisis, and must resolve them in order to continue living.
But truthfully, I almost didn’t get to the end of this novel. It was amusing at first, until it began to chafe. There is nothing wrong with having a moral point in a novel, but we were clobbered with this one. Everyone had some schtick that made them hard to take, except Bee, and she had learned from her parents, so a few times was a little harsher than she needed to be while pushing her own point of view. Was this Semple’s point? That adults can be jerks, and children will get there someday? Clever, but I could have done without the sarcasm.
This book had been recommended to me, so it has been on my list. When I found an audiofile available, I grabbed it. Usually I also order the hard copy to clarify points when I want to write a review. My library, however, had all their numerous copies out for YA “summer reading.” Interesting. I would never have chosen this title for high school summer reading. If the kids get to the end, when everybody starts to realize they need each other in order to be whole, they have spent many hours immersed in severe dysfunctional behaviors. I’m not at all sure we need to confirm their suspicions that adults are creeps, considering how far the teens have to go before they are perfect.
Anyway, I did finish. Semple is tough. At this point in the review I realize that Semple may be writing for teens after all. I still wouldn’t have chosen this title for summer reading. I would choose something that gives glamour to language. But there you have it. I’m not the font of all wisdom, either.
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LibraryThing member SamSattler
No one in Seattle really knows much about Bernadette Fox. And that it is precisely why the other mothers at her daughter's prestigious private-school love to gossip about her so much. Oh, they know that her husband is one of the stars on the Microsoft campus, and they all like her bright
Bernadette does not even pretend that she wants to be involved. Not only does she not speak to them in the school drop-off zone, she doesn't even notice when she runs over the foot of one mother insisting to speak with her. Something is wrong with this woman; they are sure of it, and they are going to make her pay for it.
Elgie knows that something is going on with Bernadette but his top secret project for Microsoft, and the huge amount of money he brings home for managing it, allow him to ignore the problem - or, at least, postpone dealing with it. Things do seem to be going well enough, after all. Bernadette is managing the home front efficiently (although with help he knows nothing about), and Bee is doing so well in her studies that she has qualified to claim her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica.
Then all hell breaks lose, Bernadette disappears, and, after a while, Bee seems to be the only one still looking for her.
Believe it or not, serious as all of this sounds, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is the funniest novel I have read this year. The book, a satirical look at the whole Microsoft/Seattle lifestyle, is filled with laugh-out-loud moments that will have the reader wondering just who the "crazies" in the story really are. But, although it sometimes borders on slapstick, the novel does offer some touching reminders and insights into the relationship between mothers and daughters. It will be young Bee, after all, who refuses to give up the search for her missing mother - even when others are certain that she is lost forever - and the precocious teen is determined to go to the ends of the earth to find her.
Among the memorable "little moments" in the novel, is the scene in which Bee discovers the wonder of Abbey Road, the 1969 Beatles album that was to be the last the band ever recorded. Bee's shock and embarrassment when her mother sings along with every one of the songs - in perfect sync with the recorded vocals - is a smile-inducing reminder that children find it impossible to believe their parents were ever young enough to be "cool." Even Bee, a girl who considers her mom to be her best friend, cannot quite make that leap.
Adding to the fun, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is very cleverly structured to tell its story largely via a series of email messages, handwritten notes, transcripts of conversations, and the like. This places the reader inside the heads of a variety of characters who reveal more about themselves than they want to reveal - probably even to themselves. This one is hard to put down.
Rated at: 4.5
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fifteen-year-old daughter, Bee, just fine. But Bernadette has committed the cardinal sin among the private-school mother set: she refuses to "volunteer" for any of the little jobs that take up so much of their time. Bernadette does not even pretend that she wants to be involved. Not only does she not speak to them in the school drop-off zone, she doesn't even notice when she runs over the foot of one mother insisting to speak with her. Something is wrong with this woman; they are sure of it, and they are going to make her pay for it.
Elgie knows that something is going on with Bernadette but his top secret project for Microsoft, and the huge amount of money he brings home for managing it, allow him to ignore the problem - or, at least, postpone dealing with it. Things do seem to be going well enough, after all. Bernadette is managing the home front efficiently (although with help he knows nothing about), and Bee is doing so well in her studies that she has qualified to claim her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica.
Then all hell breaks lose, Bernadette disappears, and, after a while, Bee seems to be the only one still looking for her.
Believe it or not, serious as all of this sounds, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is the funniest novel I have read this year. The book, a satirical look at the whole Microsoft/Seattle lifestyle, is filled with laugh-out-loud moments that will have the reader wondering just who the "crazies" in the story really are. But, although it sometimes borders on slapstick, the novel does offer some touching reminders and insights into the relationship between mothers and daughters. It will be young Bee, after all, who refuses to give up the search for her missing mother - even when others are certain that she is lost forever - and the precocious teen is determined to go to the ends of the earth to find her.
Among the memorable "little moments" in the novel, is the scene in which Bee discovers the wonder of Abbey Road, the 1969 Beatles album that was to be the last the band ever recorded. Bee's shock and embarrassment when her mother sings along with every one of the songs - in perfect sync with the recorded vocals - is a smile-inducing reminder that children find it impossible to believe their parents were ever young enough to be "cool." Even Bee, a girl who considers her mom to be her best friend, cannot quite make that leap.
Adding to the fun, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is very cleverly structured to tell its story largely via a series of email messages, handwritten notes, transcripts of conversations, and the like. This places the reader inside the heads of a variety of characters who reveal more about themselves than they want to reveal - probably even to themselves. This one is hard to put down.
Rated at: 4.5
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LibraryThing member jorgearanda
What a fun and enjoyable novel! Quirky, crafty, and humane.
LibraryThing member thebooky
I didn't care for the format of the story. I know it may seem fresh and original but I felt it was gimmicky. I was really looking forward to reading this but I found it lacking. Bea, the daughter, was not like most 15 year olds and maybe that's the point, but I found her unrealistic. The book was
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just meh. The odd thing I would mention is that I didn't stop reading it. The one thing it had going for it was that it was unpredictible. I finished it because I had to know what happened. Now on to other books. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mr.Durick
It took only two days to get through Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, a breezy novel of alienation. This is not a great novel, but it hits on some truths of society and of society's relation to us through the very admirable title character. For it to be a humorous novel the reader has to
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have a broad view of humor; it is entertaining, fluent, and telling with some depictions that feel right (if poetic justice makes one laugh perhaps one can find laughatible humor here). The denouement is a little bit explanatory in feel, but it does end the novel in a tidy and hopeful way. I think that I give this book some more credit than merely meeting expectations. Show Less
LibraryThing member writestuff
Fifteen year old Bee is wise beyond her years and when she scores exceptional grades in school, her parents promise her a trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette, Bee’s mom, is far from your average mother. Once a famous architect in Los Angeles, she now struggles to fit in with the super mothers in
Maria Semple is very funny. Her novel is often bitingly sarcastic as she skewers the superficiality of elitism. Semple has written for the television series Mad About You and also Ellen…and her ability to write satire is unparalleled. I found myself literally laughing out loud at the situations in which Semple’s characters find themselves. The book pokes fun at the green movement, private school parents (and the administrators of those schools), and corporate America, while delivering a tale about the relationship between mother and daughter.
One of the themes of the novel is identity – specifically Bernadette’s identity of artist which becomes lost amid her role as wife and mother. One character from Bernadette’s past observes:
If you don’t create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society.
That observation is prophetic and it is this idea of being true to oneself which ultimately drives the narrative in this delightful book.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette delivers on many levels: great characters, an original plot, and a witty format. Short listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year, it also demonstrates that smart women’s fiction has found its way into the literary circles.
Readers who are looking for humor, great writing, originality and ultimately characters who touch their hearts, need look no further.
Highly recommended.
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the elite Seattle, Washington area. When she disappears only days before Christmas, she leaves behind a guilty husband and a questioning daughter who will go to any extreme to find out what happened to Bernadette. Bee begins to piece together school memos, email messages, newspaper interviews and bits of “evidence” in the days leading up to Bernadette’s disappearance. The result? A wildly entertaining, sometimes poignant, and often hilarious story about parenting in the 21st century, religion, American culture and finding oneself in the process.Maria Semple is very funny. Her novel is often bitingly sarcastic as she skewers the superficiality of elitism. Semple has written for the television series Mad About You and also Ellen…and her ability to write satire is unparalleled. I found myself literally laughing out loud at the situations in which Semple’s characters find themselves. The book pokes fun at the green movement, private school parents (and the administrators of those schools), and corporate America, while delivering a tale about the relationship between mother and daughter.
One of the themes of the novel is identity – specifically Bernadette’s identity of artist which becomes lost amid her role as wife and mother. One character from Bernadette’s past observes:
If you don’t create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society.
That observation is prophetic and it is this idea of being true to oneself which ultimately drives the narrative in this delightful book.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette delivers on many levels: great characters, an original plot, and a witty format. Short listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year, it also demonstrates that smart women’s fiction has found its way into the literary circles.
Readers who are looking for humor, great writing, originality and ultimately characters who touch their hearts, need look no further.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Randall.Hansen
Very enjoyable and amusing look at a complicated family, with special delights for readers who love/hate Seattle and/or Microsoft. It's basically the story of a young girl in middle school, her genius but unstable architect mom, and her tech-brilliant Microsoft -honcho father. Fun read, with
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narratives from emails, faxes, letters, and personal dialogue. Show Less
LibraryThing member EdGoldberg
I can’t remember when I so liked a main character as much as I like Bernadette Fox. A promising Los Angeles based architect twenty years ago, she is now a recluse living in a run down former girls’ school in Seattle, spouting forth on the excessive number of 5-way intersections, poor Idahoan
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple is Bee’s recounting of the events leading up to and after her mother’s mysterious disappearance. If a book can have slapstick comedy, Where’d You Go, Bernadette has it in spades. Rather than try and describe the antics, I suggest you read the book. It is packed with superb ‘gnats’ like neighbor Audrey and Soo-Lin Lee-Segal. It is packed with Bernadette’s long winded but entertaining rambling e-mails (don’t forget, she’s a recluse) and her virtual assistant is something else (literally).
I’ve stated before that I think humor is the hardest literature to write and Maria Semple has done a fine job with it. I highly recommend Where’d You Go, Bernadette for a fast, fun read.
By the way, I think teens would like this book as well. Fun for the whole family.
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drivers, the way too polite Canadians, and the super-sophisticated ‘gnats’ who are the parents of her daughter Bee’s schoolmates. The one thing you know for sure is that she loves her fifteen year old daughter.Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple is Bee’s recounting of the events leading up to and after her mother’s mysterious disappearance. If a book can have slapstick comedy, Where’d You Go, Bernadette has it in spades. Rather than try and describe the antics, I suggest you read the book. It is packed with superb ‘gnats’ like neighbor Audrey and Soo-Lin Lee-Segal. It is packed with Bernadette’s long winded but entertaining rambling e-mails (don’t forget, she’s a recluse) and her virtual assistant is something else (literally).
I’ve stated before that I think humor is the hardest literature to write and Maria Semple has done a fine job with it. I highly recommend Where’d You Go, Bernadette for a fast, fun read.
By the way, I think teens would like this book as well. Fun for the whole family.
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LibraryThing member Vivl
If it hadn't been book club reading I doubt I've had made it to the halfway point, let alone the last page. Brief moments of well-written humour and observation are swamped in a mire of unfocussed, unconvincing and often downright annoying mess. Not sure what this is trying to be, but it's
My library had this catalogued under "Relationships" and I wondered when I borrowed it what that means. I don't think they knew where to put it either!
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certainly not the laugh out loud comedy-fest that the cover blurbs lead one to expect, sometimes seeming to be aimed at a YA audience but occasionally stepping outside of that realm in fairly extreme ways. My library had this catalogued under "Relationships" and I wondered when I borrowed it what that means. I don't think they knew where to put it either!
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LibraryThing member Tafadhali
I'll admit, I sometimes found the humor in this book a bit grating (so many self-absorbed white people, oh my god), but I was won over by its format (I'm a sucker for a story told in documents or letters) and by the ultimate warmth and hopefulness of the story.
LibraryThing member jasonlf
The sort of book that makes me want to take back some of my previous five star reviews to properly distinguish just how important it is that everyone go read this one right away. Or else I could call you all individually and read you my favorite parts, which comprise a large fraction of the
Where'd You Go Bernadette is hilarious, insightful, almost magical in the way it shifts perspectives and language from character to character, and well plotted--overall every page was an absolute joy to read.
The basic story is told by Bernadette's eighth grade daughter Bee as well as through letters, emails, receipts, articles, police reports, and other original materials. It begins with the disappearance of Bernadette on the eve of a family trip to Antarctica and then goes back to the series of events that lead to it, with articles and letters illuminating still further events in Bernadette's life. The last parts of the book take off from the disappearance.
The novel has a number of laugh-out-loud set pieces, with especially repeated and borderline vicious satires of Seattle, the Microsoft corporate culture (Bernadette's husband works at Microsoft), the private school scene and the art world, to name just a few. At the same time, it shifts perspectives on these events, illuminating them piecemeal, adding to the humor but also bringing more insight into the different characters.
At the same time, it is more successful than most comic novels in depicting growth for some of the characters (although most of them are frozen in their comic archetypes) and discoveries about themselves and each other.
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book.Where'd You Go Bernadette is hilarious, insightful, almost magical in the way it shifts perspectives and language from character to character, and well plotted--overall every page was an absolute joy to read.
The basic story is told by Bernadette's eighth grade daughter Bee as well as through letters, emails, receipts, articles, police reports, and other original materials. It begins with the disappearance of Bernadette on the eve of a family trip to Antarctica and then goes back to the series of events that lead to it, with articles and letters illuminating still further events in Bernadette's life. The last parts of the book take off from the disappearance.
The novel has a number of laugh-out-loud set pieces, with especially repeated and borderline vicious satires of Seattle, the Microsoft corporate culture (Bernadette's husband works at Microsoft), the private school scene and the art world, to name just a few. At the same time, it shifts perspectives on these events, illuminating them piecemeal, adding to the humor but also bringing more insight into the different characters.
At the same time, it is more successful than most comic novels in depicting growth for some of the characters (although most of them are frozen in their comic archetypes) and discoveries about themselves and each other.
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LibraryThing member lkernagh
I read this one in less than 24 hours, it was that entertaining! Love the characters - yes, even Audrey! - and can just imagine the fun Semple must have had creating her yuppified characters and the "off the wall' situations that occur in this book.
I can see why this book is garnering so much
I am a huge fan of epistolary style story telling, provided it works. It works well with this story as we only see glimpses of the story in the form of emails, hand written notes, letters, reports and what I am going to call journal entries. I really liked how Semple withheld information and then communicated it with a plausible explanation - very nicely done! I am also a huge fan of characters that radiate vividly unique personalities, while still being believable characters. This book has also accomplished what no other book has done before now- it has whetted my appetite for books on Antarctica expeditions and current research activities being conducted at the bottom of the world.
Overall, this is a really fun story that made me laugh, cry and nod my head in agreement. It deserves all the hype and interest it is receiving and is the perfect mainstream summer read! if your like me and cannot afford to make a trip to Antarctica, why not read Where'd You Go, Bernadette, instead?
I can see why this book is garnering so much
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attention. Like Ready Player One and Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, this book takes a lot of information readers can readily relate to - in this case Microsoft, PTA's, struggles with work-life balance, relationship issues with neighbors - and gives it a fresh new spin, creating a lively, entertaining read instead of what could have easily have been a very 'ho-hum' run of the mill story. I am a huge fan of epistolary style story telling, provided it works. It works well with this story as we only see glimpses of the story in the form of emails, hand written notes, letters, reports and what I am going to call journal entries. I really liked how Semple withheld information and then communicated it with a plausible explanation - very nicely done! I am also a huge fan of characters that radiate vividly unique personalities, while still being believable characters. This book has also accomplished what no other book has done before now- it has whetted my appetite for books on Antarctica expeditions and current research activities being conducted at the bottom of the world.
Overall, this is a really fun story that made me laugh, cry and nod my head in agreement. It deserves all the hype and interest it is receiving and is the perfect mainstream summer read! if your like me and cannot afford to make a trip to Antarctica, why not read Where'd You Go, Bernadette, instead?
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LibraryThing member streamsong
Bernadette and her husband, Elgin, are the consummate Seattle yuppies. Elgie is a team leader at Microsoft--consumed by his work and unplugged with his family. Bernadette is a prize-winning architect of world reknown who has become somewhat agoraphobic and has found unique ways to deal with her
Add in the most politically correct school in the universe ("Galer Street School is a place where compassion, academics, and global connectitude join together to create civic-minded citizens of a sustainable and diverse planet") and a neighbor intent on feuding and you have the setting for this quirky unpredictable novel.
When Bernadette finds it all too much and suddenly disappears (during a misguided intervention to get her into a mental hospital), daughter Bea takes up the thread to try to discover where her mother has gone-- a feat not achieved by police, FBI, husband and private investigators.
The novel is told through a paper trail of emails, school memos, FBI and police reports, notes from the emergency room (after said neighbor insists Bernadette intentionally ran over her foot) and of course letters and mysterious packages.
I found this book Laugh Out Loud funny and the ending touching. Not great literature, but lots of fun!
The experience was absolutely enhanced by the audiobook reader, Kathleen Wilhoite, whose performance made this seem more like listening to a radio play than to an audiobook. 5 stars and 2 thumbs up for Kathleen Wilhoite! If you're travelling and want an audiobook to make the miles fly by, this one is it.
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life including a virtual personal assistant in India who works for 75 cents an hour. They live with their teen age daughter, Bea, a strong independent, funny genius in a crumbling old house which Bernadette has planned for years to redesign and repair. Add in the most politically correct school in the universe ("Galer Street School is a place where compassion, academics, and global connectitude join together to create civic-minded citizens of a sustainable and diverse planet") and a neighbor intent on feuding and you have the setting for this quirky unpredictable novel.
When Bernadette finds it all too much and suddenly disappears (during a misguided intervention to get her into a mental hospital), daughter Bea takes up the thread to try to discover where her mother has gone-- a feat not achieved by police, FBI, husband and private investigators.
The novel is told through a paper trail of emails, school memos, FBI and police reports, notes from the emergency room (after said neighbor insists Bernadette intentionally ran over her foot) and of course letters and mysterious packages.
I found this book Laugh Out Loud funny and the ending touching. Not great literature, but lots of fun!
The experience was absolutely enhanced by the audiobook reader, Kathleen Wilhoite, whose performance made this seem more like listening to a radio play than to an audiobook. 5 stars and 2 thumbs up for Kathleen Wilhoite! If you're travelling and want an audiobook to make the miles fly by, this one is it.
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LibraryThing member ivan.frade
I was skeptical about this book which looked like yet-another-mother-daughter drama, but a local reading campaign made this title very visible in all library branches and I gave it try.
It was a very pleasant surprise! Nice plot with lively characters well anchored on realistic references (Seattle,
This book won't teach any deep lesson about the human soul, but is an enjoyable easy reading that makes you smile and keeps you hooked.
It was a very pleasant surprise! Nice plot with lively characters well anchored on realistic references (Seattle,
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microsoft, TED talks...). The writing is dynamic and funny with a very natural tone.This book won't teach any deep lesson about the human soul, but is an enjoyable easy reading that makes you smile and keeps you hooked.
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LibraryThing member E.J
I hardly put this book down at all yesterday. Some of it was fabulous, some of it was fabulously bitchy and a tiny bit was just eh for me. Especially the happy tie every single lose end up happy happy ending. That wasn't what I was looking for but I must say the rest of the book delivered quite
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nicely. Show Less
Awards
Women's Prize for Fiction (Longlist — 2013)
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2014)
The Morning News Tournament of Books (Short List — 2013)
Alex Award (2013)
Maine Readers' Choice Award (Longlist — 2013)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction/Poetry — 2012)
Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Fiction — 2012)
The Observer Book of the Year (Fiction — 2013)
Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List (Selection — 2014)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2012-12-21
Physical description
352 p.; 5.55 inches
ISBN
0316204269 / 9780316204262
UPC
710308291412
Local notes
fiction