Where'd You Go, Bernadette
A Novel
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4.2 • 3.5K Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
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 absurd world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Bernadette Fox is an acclaimed Seattle architect and mother of two. She’s also a troubled agoraphobic who goes AWOL ahead of a family vacation to Antarctica. Maria Semple uses Bernadette’s personal emails, messages, and calls—there’s even a “live blog” of a TED talk given by Elgie Fox, Bernadette’s husband—to tell this innovative, darkly comic tale. (We also hear from Bernadette’s daughter, Bee.) Through the story of Bernadette’s decline, Semple challenges conventional notions of motherhood and professional success and raises questions about the price of the modern magazine-perfect lifestyle.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her second novel (after This One Is Mine), Semple pieces together a modern-day comic caper full of heart and ingenuity. Eighth-grader Bee is the daughter of Microsoft genius Elgin Branch and Bernadette Fox, a once-famous architect who has become a recluse in her Seattle home. Bee has a simple request: a family cruise to Antarctica as a reward for her good grades. Her parents acquiesce, but not without trepidation. Bernadette's social anxiety has become so overwhelming that she's employed a personal assistant from Delhi Virtual Assistants Intl. (who makes " USD/hr.") for tasks as simple as making dinner reservations. How will she survive three weeks on a boat with other live human beings? Maybe she won't; a day before the trip, Bernadette disappears, and Bee gathers her mother's invoices, e-mail correspondence, and emergency room bills in the hopes of finding clues as to where she went.The result is a compelling composite of a woman's life and the way she's viewed by the many people who share it. 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 d nouement.
Customer Reviews
Where'd you go Bernadette
I loved this book! Bee was way more intelligent than any 8th grader that I know but, having two very intelligent parents it's realistic and understandable. And who knew that Audrey could step outside her box of superiority and see herself for who she really was. I never did end up liking Soo-Lin, once the victim always the victim. I loved the ending, I could almost guess it but was still unsure of how it would end. Very entertaining read that kept me flipping the pages. It left me wanting more.
Odd Ducks
A compelling story of eccentric, but likable people. It’s a brisk read and very thoughtfully written. I recommend it highly.
Boring
I love to read, and when I saw this was coming to the theater, I immediately bought it. I tried multiple times to get through this book and would have to go back and reread parts due to uninteresting characters and the way it jumped around. I wouldn’t read for days, so I would have to go back and look to see who they were talking about. I read about 57% and never went back.