Where'd You Go, Bernadette: Summary and book reviews of Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, plus links to an excerpt from Where'd You Go, Bernadette and a biography of Maria Semple.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette A Novel
by Maria Semple
Hardcover: Dec 2012,
336 pages.
Paperback: Apr 2013,
352 pages.
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.
What struck me most about this delightful book is that for all its breeziness (and there's plenty of it to move you right along) there's also much that runs deeper beneath the surface. (Reviewed by Poornima Apte).
O, The Oprah Magazine
Underlying the nontraditional narrative are insights into the cost of thwarted creativity and the power of mother-daughter bonds, although a reader may be having too much fun to notice.
The New York Times
Comedy heaven.... This divinely funny, many-faceted novel...leaves convention behind.
Los Angeles Times
Semple's affecting characters, not-necessarily-nice humor and surprising plot twists make this novel an enchanting ride.
The Washington Post
Warm, dark, sad, funny-and a little bit screwball.... This is an inventive and very funny novel that gets bonus points for transcending form.
The Huffington Post
Jonathan Franzen endorsed it...and we weren't aware that he liked anything, so we felt inclined to pick it up. We now see why he enjoyed it so much.
San Francisco Chronicle
It's the rare book that actually deserves the term "laugh-out-loud funny," but I found myself reading passages from almost every page to anyone who would listen, even as I could barely articulate the words through my own laughter.
Kirkus Reviews
A fun beach read for urban sophisticates or those who think they are.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. As expected from a writer who has written episodes of Arrested Development, the nuances of mundane interactions are brilliantly captured, and the overarching mystery deepens with each page, until the thoroughly satisfying dénouement.
Booklist
Starred Review. Under the guise of a hilarious romp, Semple explores the universal questions of why we do what we do and love what we love to some sweet and unexpected ends.
Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom
The characters in Where'd You Go, Bernadette may be in real emotional pain, but Semple has the wit and perspective and imagination to make their story hilarious. I tore through this book with heedless pleasure.
Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here
Brilliant, hilarious, endlessly inventive, and compulsively readable, Where'd You Go, Bernadette grabs you by the collar and never lets go. Semple is not only a masterful juggler, and an astute social critic, she is a magician!
Matthew Kneale, author of When We Were Romans
A delightfully funny book, that constantly catches one by surprise, Where'd You Go, Bernadette combines a shrewdly observed portrait of Seattle - life with, of all things, a mysterious disappearance in Antarctica. A pleasure.
Kate Atkinson, author of Case Histories and Started Early, Took My Dog Where'd You Go, Bernadette is fresh and funny and accomplished, but the best thing about it was that I never had any idea what was going to happen next. It was a wild ride...
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Lori Where'd You Go, Bernadette I'd highly recommend this fun read. I couldn't put the book down; there were lots of unexpected twists and turns. This was a unique book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rated of 5
by mainlinebooker Hilarious This is one book that I am urging all my friends to read - a perfect end of the summer wrap up. I laughed so hard throughout this witty novel and didn't want it to end. Run to the store for this one. You won't regret it..
Where'd You Go Bernadette has much talk about Antarctica, the coldest, windiest, driest desert continent on earth. Located around the South Pole, Antarctica covers an area of 5.1 million square miles (larger than the US, as well as the continents of Europe or Australia) and has a thick ice cap that has built over millions of years.
Those who can afford the price tag of around $10,000 can go on a cruise to the continent navigating through the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage is a body of water, which connects the southern tip of South America and the Shetland islands of Antarctica. Passage through this body of water is a must but tourists need to pack a lot of Dramamine because it can be an extremely choppy ride – it's not called the "Drake Shake" for nothing. The departure point for cruises is...
Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history - the internment of American-Japanese families during World War II - Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us about forgiveness and the power of the human heart.
With wry candor and tender humor, Ayelet Waldman has crafted a strikingly beautiful novel for our time, tackling the absurdities of modern life and reminding us why we love some people no matter what.
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O, The Oprah Magazine
Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom
of 5
by Lori
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Those who can afford the price tag of around $10,000 can go on a cruise to the continent navigating through the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage is a body of water, which connects the southern tip of South America and the Shetland islands of Antarctica. Passage through this body of water is a must but tourists need to pack a lot of Dramamine because it can be an extremely choppy ride – it's not called the "Drake Shake" for nothing. The departure point for cruises is...
