Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple // Book Review

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Bernadette Fox is the woman I want to be: highly opinionated, passionate about her craft, and kind to those who matter. She’s unconventional in more ways than one. Having a gifted daughter graduating middle school with straight A’s, her one wish is to go to Antartica. Her parents are not so eager.

However, a promise is a promise and so the story unfolds. Through a series of emails, articles, and flyers, the characters embody the written materials they produce. We begin to learn that things are not alright. Bernadette can hardly leave the house, she stopped working in architecture after a traumatic incident, and her growing distain for Seattle’s residents isn’t going away.

Yet, that’s not how Bee looks at her mother who is the coolest person she knows. When her mother goes missing upon an intervention conducted by her husband, Bee delves deeper into her mother’s past to discover that she is an incredible woman with a legacy left behind. This makes her all the more determined to find her mother who is also on a journey to find herself.

Funny and energetic, this book has a lot to offer. The cast of characters each have a hand in supporting the plot. I honestly just like how unloveable these people are but can’t seem to function without one another.