A
largely epistolary novel, this comic, yet touching, story is set in Seattle and
takes a satirical look at that fabled techy city, Microsoft, TED lectures, MacArthur
Genius awards, and other cultural icons.
Bee, daughter of lapsed architect Bernadette and Microsoft team leader,
Elgin, is finishing her last year at a progressive private school. Receiving perfect grades, she demands that
her parents make good on their promise to grant her heart’s desire, which she
declares is a family trip to Antarctica.
This presents a particular problem for her mother, who has become a
virtual recluse and fears both going out of the house and being surrounded in
close quarters by other people which has resulted in her using a “virtual
assistant” in India to relate with the world.
Bernadette also hates Seattle, her fellow parents at the school, and has
a sorrowful past. A series of
misadventures and misunderstandings occur and Bernadette disappears. Or does she?
336 pp.
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