⋙ Download Where'd You Go Bernadette A Novel Maria Semple 9780316415866 Books

Where'd You Go Bernadette A Novel Maria Semple 9780316415866 Books

Download As PDF : Where'd You Go Bernadette A Novel Maria Semple 9780316415866 Books

Where'd You Go Bernadette A Novel Maria Semple 9780316415866 Books

Fifteen year old Bee lives in Seattle with her parents in a 12,000 square ft building that once was a Catholic school for wayward girls. To say their lifestyle is unconventional would be an understatement. Their "home" has blackberry vines growing through the floorboards, a roof that leaks like a sieve, and an odor that would assault anyone's nose who might enter; yet the three of them don't seem to notice. It's not because of lack of intelligence or money. They all have Einstein level IQs. Elgin has a very high level job at Microsoft, Bernadette is an award winning architect, and Bee has been accepted to a prestigious boarding school.

They are planning on taking a trip to Antarctica over Christmas break, a reward for Bee's perfect report card. But things start going awry. And then Bernadette disappears...

This is a strange story told in an unique way. It's told by Bee with the help of emails, letters from school personnel, police reports, medical reports, invoices, etc. This book is satirical; certainly not a book anchored in "everyday life" realism. In this regard, it reminds me a bit of Rachael Joyce's "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye".

"Where'd You Go, Bernadette" isn't for everyone. Of course you can say that about every book ever published, but that goes double here. I would've given up on it if not for a reading buddy who pushed me to stick it out. The characters are not likable in the beginning (or understandable), especially Bernadette. But once I got through the first quarter, I was invested in the story. And when I reached the last page, I realized wisps of Bee, Bernadette, and Elgin have been written in my memory bank with a permanent marker. They'll fade, but never completely leave.

Can't possibly give this less than 4 stars.


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Where'd You Go Bernadette A Novel Maria Semple 9780316415866 Books Reviews

For a time I lived around Cupertino, and I recognized many of the characters. I had the impression that the book would have continued in the vein (would be. 5 star review).
However the quarrelsome/crazy women finds an iceberg and is rendered sane and functioning. The 15 year old daughter matures in under an hour and all is right with the world. The husband is sort of left out of the game plan.
A quick read and flows well.
In a nutshell, this is a book that begs the reader to not take it seriously, and just simply enjoy the amusement park ride that it is.
This was recommended to me because it was "quirky and fun". I learned the author had written for a few quirky comedy television shows, which helped me in setting my expectations before jumping in. And just as anticipated, it reads like a screenplay for a fun quirky comedy. Going in with that expectation, I found the book to be a delight to read ~ the author takes what would be heavy issues in reality, and lets us see them in another light hearted way.
Also, having grown up in Seattle, just a few years behind Bill Gates, and having classmates that went to work for Microsoft, there was a nostalgic / sentimental feel for me, as I read through the escapades of Bernadette and the Galer Street Gnats ... definitely quirky and fun.
I really enjoyed this book - even though it wasn't remotely what I was expecting. Told through a series of narrators, with emails, letters, and texts, this is a tightly-woven contemporary epistolary novel. The primary narrator is Bee, telling the story from her perspective as a young teen daughter. Bernadette, her mother, is a former MacArthur genius award winning architect, who is missing.

The book is by turns hilarious and touching. It skewers helicopter parents, high tech, and Seattle. It also focuses on mother-daughter relationships, family dynamics, and creativity. The main characters, including Elgin the father and husband, are unforgettable. This is a book that makes you feel good!
Thank goodness I picked this book back up after not liking the sample a couple of years ago. It was so odd and quirky—laid out as a series of speakers or written communications alternating to roll out the story. So many others loved the book that I gave it another try. I'm so glad I didn't miss this highly entertaining, funny, poignant, and remarkably original work.

There are so many layers here, and my review will not do it justice. It is a screamingly funny and intelligent satire of the wealthy, bright, but eccentric "Microsoft executive types" in Seattle. A review on got it just right "A whip-smart, hysterical dramady about a family in crisis after the disappearance of its misanthropic matriarch." That matriarch was Bernadette.

Bernadette—at one time a revolutionary architect with a cult-like following—dropped out of that world to accompany her equally brilliant and odd husband to Seattle for his ground-breaking work in artificial intelligence with Microsoft. Their delightful daughter Bee is achieving great things at school and is relatively oblivious to her family's eccentricities or her mother's increasing agitation and agoraphobia in dealing with the "gnats"—parents at Bee's school whose antics and priorities are hilariously sublime satire.

Bernadette's disappearance sends Bee and her father on a poignant, intense, and globe-trotting search, during which they uncover much about themselves and about the power of love and the importance of being true to one's self.
Fifteen year old Bee lives in Seattle with her parents in a 12,000 square ft building that once was a Catholic school for wayward girls. To say their lifestyle is unconventional would be an understatement. Their "home" has blackberry vines growing through the floorboards, a roof that leaks like a sieve, and an odor that would assault anyone's nose who might enter; yet the three of them don't seem to notice. It's not because of lack of intelligence or money. They all have Einstein level IQs. Elgin has a very high level job at Microsoft, Bernadette is an award winning architect, and Bee has been accepted to a prestigious boarding school.

They are planning on taking a trip to Antarctica over Christmas break, a reward for Bee's perfect report card. But things start going awry. And then Bernadette disappears...

This is a strange story told in an unique way. It's told by Bee with the help of emails, letters from school personnel, police reports, medical reports, invoices, etc. This book is satirical; certainly not a book anchored in "everyday life" realism. In this regard, it reminds me a bit of Rachael Joyce's "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye".

"Where'd You Go, Bernadette" isn't for everyone. Of course you can say that about every book ever published, but that goes double here. I would've given up on it if not for a reading buddy who pushed me to stick it out. The characters are not likable in the beginning (or understandable), especially Bernadette. But once I got through the first quarter, I was invested in the story. And when I reached the last page, I realized wisps of Bee, Bernadette, and Elgin have been written in my memory bank with a permanent marker. They'll fade, but never completely leave.

Can't possibly give this less than 4 stars.