Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel

Maria Semple

Aug 2012 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

This novel is fast, wildly creative, unpredictable, even a bit zany. Just don't give up on it. Because I nearly gave it up after completing the first section. At that point I thought it was going to be just another satirical look at the unique culture of of the Pacific Northwest. Affluent but dedicated parents in Seattle who compete around school volunteering. Terminal niceness. And one family that doesn't quite fit in. Fortunately, as I read on, the book became much more complex and compelling. At its heart is the newly arrived Branch family: •Elgin - a pioneering genius guru at Microsoft, whose Ted Talk is one of the most watched EVER. •Bernadette - a visionary architect and former MacArthur grant winner, who has trouble settling into Seattle. •Bee - their 15-year-old super smart daughter, with a history of health issues, and a budding interest in attending an Elite East Coast prep school. From the title, you know that at some point Bernadette disappears. But what you can't know (and I certainly won't give it away here) is why and how. There will be moments when you think you understand. But author Maria Semple has a whole host of surprises in store. You will meet villains who become heroes and supposed heroes who turn out to work purely to further their own self-interest. It's an interesting tale that examines the illusive nature of "truth" and, more specifically, what can happen when people interpret events differently and BELIEVE they understand something when they don't. The author builds the novel out of straight narration, supplemented by emails, letters, and assorted reports from physicians, police, and the FBI. It's a fun read.

I couldn't put this book down. It felt a bit like spying on very interesting, gossip-worthy people without threat of being caught. The ending was a tad rushed in an effort to close up some story lines, but the details about pop culture -- TEDTalks, Abbey Road, PTA meetings -- made it a delightful read throughout.

You got to love Bernadette but you can't understand what is going in her mind. Enjoyed every page, although in some chapters I had hard time to follow Bernadette's story (mostly the last chapter).

About the author

Maria Semple is the author of This One Is Mine and Today Will Be Different. Before turning to fiction, she wrote for Mad About You, Ellen, and Arrested Development. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker. She lives in Seattle.