If not for the humor in the exposition of her epistolary novel, I’d have never read, much less bought Maria Semple’s bestseller, Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2012). A satire of the Seattle-based super rich and privileged, I found myself not liking many of the characters because they typified so many of my stereotypes of the super rich: delusional, entitled, competitive, paranoid, and money/power/status obsessed. Despite my less than positive review, the novel is well-written and stylistically inventive. For these reasons, it gets three rather than two stars. Read […]
I know I’m late, but I really did like it when I finally got round to reading it
Because I read this book a month ago, and the plot is somewhat convoluted, I am resorting to the plot summary from Goodreads to help me explain what the book is about: Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fiercely 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’s a best friend, and simply, Mom. Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed […]
MelBivDevoe’s CBR review #12
This is going to be a short little review – I finished this book over a month ago and simply haven’t had the time to write a review. Forgive me if I mix up any of the details – like I said, it’s been a while since I read it! I was going to describe the character of the title, Bernadette, as an agoraphobe, but that’s not quite right. She’s not afraid of leaving the house or of other people – she simply loathes them. […]
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
This book started out so, so good, then got kind of crappy for a bit, then redeemed itself (mostly) at the end. It’s been reviewed quite a bit here on CBR, so I’m not sure what I can add to the discussion, but here goes. “You’re bored. And I’m going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it’s boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it’s ON YOU to make life interesting, the better off […]