Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

by Maria Semple

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.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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If I was asked to describe this book in a phrase, I would say, over the top, but fun. Bernadette was ridiculous, and I think that is why I kept listening. I loved Bea, and I loved how fiercely she loved her mom. Many of characters had major quirks, but they just added to the over the top charm.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 March, 2016: Finished reading
  • 5 March, 2016: Reviewed