Book reviews by Mobilism's Book Review team
Oct 3rd, 2014, 5:35 pm
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TITLE: Where'd You Go, Bernadette
AUTHOR: Maria Semple
GENRE: General Fiction
PUBLISHED: August 2012
RATING: ★★★★ 1/2
PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon.com
MOBILISM LINK: Mobilism


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 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.

Review: Writers are often told to write about what they know; I know I would begin with my own experiences, if (when!) I ever get around to writing a novel. Moreover, whenever a novel really speaks to me, I find more often than not that the author has poured a lot of him or herself into its pages. And when I encounter a particularly entertaining or intriguing book that seems to mirror the writer's own life, I delight in probing the author's psyche, trying to figure out if the book is a memoir of sorts, instead of just fiction.

In this case of Maria Semple, her published novels seem to exactly mirror her own experiences. Maria Semple is a television writer whose credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan and Ellen, and now (obviously) a novelist. Her partner, George Meyer, is a staff writer for The Simpsons. The couple have one daughter. No surprise then that her first novel, This One is Mine, is set in Los Angeles at a time when Semple herself lived there. It features a neurotic and insecure protagonist, full of angst, with one child (a toddler daughter) - who tries to deal with everyday life in Los Angeles. It is best understood by Southern Californians as there are many insider references.

Her second novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, is set in Seattle (where Semple now lives), and (surprise!) again features a neurotic and, insecure protagonist, full of angst (Bernadette), with a long-suffering husband (Elgin) who has one teenage daughter (Bee) - and who tries to deal with everyday life in Seattle. It is best understood by people from Seattle as there are many insider references. Therefore, it is not much of a stretch to hypothesize that Semple strongly identifies with the protagonist in her novels. If true, Semple must be fun, neurotic, quick-witted, neurotic, quirky, intelligent, and neurotic.

The novel starts with a heartrending plea to the reader direct from Bee. Where has her mother gone? Her dad won't tell her, she isn't even sure he knows, so Bee has decided she will find her mother herself. The novel begins in first person from Bee's point of view, but is also told through e-mails, letters, F.B.I. documents, correspondence with a psychiatrist, and even an emergency-room bill for a run-in between Bernadette and a neighbor. It might sound confusing but really it's not; the novel IS cracking good fun deciphering who all these people are and what they mean to Elgin, Bernadette, and Bee.

Bernadette is adorably neurotic and likable, you can't help rooting for her. One of the most hilarious parts of the books is how Bernadette rips on Seattle and listing all the ways it makes her crazy (although she may have been a bit crazy before. Shhhhh!). She hates the people, she hates the culture, and most of all, she hates living there (and maybe Semple herself does too - or at least she did). Here is one of Bernadette's reasons why, Seattle's proximity to Canada...
“Americans are pushy, obnoxious, neurotic, crass - anything and everything - the full catastrophe as our friend Zorba might say. Canadians are none of that. The way you might fear a cow sitting down in the middle of the street during rush hour, that's how I fear Canadians. To Canadians, everyone is equal. Joni Mitchell is interchangeable with a secretary at open-mic night. Frank Gehry is no greater than a hack pumping out McMansions on AutoCAD. John Candy is no funnier than Uncle Lou when he gets a couple of beers in him. No wonder the only Canadians anyone's ever heard of are the ones who have gotten the hell out. Anyone with talent who stayed would be flattened under an avalanche of equality. The thing Canadians don't understand is that some people are extraordinary and should be treated as such.”

And yet sometimes Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a love letter to Seattle...
"All those ninnies have it wrong. The best thing about Seattle is the weather. The world over, people have ocean views. But across our ocean is Bainbridge Island, an evergreen curb, and over it the exploding, craggy, snow-scraped Olympics. I guess what I'm saying: I miss it, the mountains and the water.”

So where did Bernadette go? Does her disappearance have anything to do with her agoraphobia and Bee's long awaited trip to Antarctica? Or has her outsider status, her conflict with the neighbors, or her dislike of Seattle finally driven her away? Well, the truth is little bit complicated and this novel turns into a rather absurd, madcap adventure. If you are willing to suspend belief a bit, give the novel a try and have some fun with Bernadette and Bee. I did, and I enjoyed the book immeasurably. I think most women would enjoy this novel, but especially women familiar with the Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest.

4.5 stars.
Oct 3rd, 2014, 5:35 pm
Oct 4th, 2014, 1:11 pm
Just finished this book last week. Although I am not from Seatlle (or the United States anyway), I also enjoyed this book. Such an easy read. It is a modern day epistolary novel. What I really loved was the humor she put in, especially Bernadette. Thumbs up.
Oct 4th, 2014, 1:11 pm
Oct 4th, 2014, 10:18 pm
I really enjoyed this book too.
Oct 4th, 2014, 10:18 pm
Nov 8th, 2014, 11:16 pm
Finished this book a couple of months ago. I liked the detective work the daughter undertook to finally track down Bernadette...but found that some of the side stories to illustrate just how eccentric Bernadette was are a bit much.
Nov 8th, 2014, 11:16 pm
Nov 9th, 2014, 12:44 am
Yes, Bernadette was a bit much, but when you read Maria Semple's other book, This One is Mine (which she actually wrote first) you will see the protagonist has the same oddball weirdo quirky personality and you start to suspect that maybe Semple herself identifies with these characters a little too much. I know what you mean though.
Nov 9th, 2014, 12:44 am

PLEASE! I AM NO LONGER ABLE TO RE-UP BOOKS!!!
Pls request in Request area and report so book can be re-released!