Friday, June 26, 2020

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (2012) 330 pages

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is an often humorous, sometimes heart-wrenching story of a girl's love for her mother. Told primarily through a collection of emails, faxes, letters, and other documents, the story's gaps are filled in by the insights of 15-year-old Bee. Bee's mother, Bernadette, was an architect who'd gained a following for her eco-buildings before the idea was popularized. By the time Bee was born prematurely, in need of several surgeries, Bernadette had suffered multiple miscarriages and had a bizarre experience that she allowed to end her architecture career. Now Bernadette is resigned to a life avoiding cooking, avoiding fixing up their decrepit house, avoiding "gnats," (a term she gives to neighbors and parents of children from Bee's school who bother her), avoiding most everything. Meanwhile, Bernadette's husband, Elgin, is an upper-echelon computer guru who is revered for his abilities (and for a TED Talk he had given), and known for his eccentricities. On the eve of a family trip to Antarctica to celebrate Bee's stellar grades, a lot of craziness ensues, with the result that Bernadette disappears. Will Bee ever find out what happened to her mother?


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