Book - Where'd You Go, Bernardette by Maria Semple

"Just because it's complicated, just because you think you can't ever know everything about another person, it doesn't mean you can't try."

Where'd You Go, Bernardette was very popular when it came out in 2012 and a movie adaptation is coming this March. I loved the book's cover and I enjoy chick-lit and light reads, so I decided to read this on kindle.

Bernardette Fox is a woman in her early 50's who lives in Seattle with her husband Elgin, who works at Microsoft, her daughter Bee, a 15 year old school prodigy, and their dog. The book starts with Bee asking her parents to take her on a Christmas trip to Antarctica and them promising her they'd go. 

Bernardette is a wacky character who doesn't like social interaction and is despised by the parents of her daughter's school (a group of upper class moms she calls gnats who desperately want to be the perfect parents) because she doesn't contribute to school activities. She avoids talking to people so much she hired a personal assistant from India to help her with her basic needs. Nonetheless she gets along with her daughter very well, who is portrayed in a very childlike manner, although she is a teenager.

The storytelling is unconventional, being entirely told in the form of letters, e-mails, notes, and occasionally from Bee's perspective. I feel like apart from Bernardette, all of the characters were undeveloped and some of the writings came from people completely unfamiliar, which made it harder for me to empathize with them. 

When I started reading this book I didn't think it'd take so long to get to the main point: Bernardette's disappearance. More than half of the story is an explanation of why she acted like she did, her loss of control, her reckless behavior and conflicts with the people surrounding her. 

The ending part was abrupt, predictable, full of unnecessary information (which got me bored), and obviously unrealistic, but I get the book is a satire of an outcast in an upper class neighborhood and is not supposed to be believable. It also has references to the Seattle area and Microsoft that I didn't get. I did like the writing style, although some of the letters were too big.

The first part was entertaining and I kept reading because I was curious to discover more about Bernardette and what would happen to her, but after I knew where she was it became completely dull. I was disappointed.

Rate: 3/5