If you follow me on tumblr (which you should do if you like cutiepie stuff!) then you know that I've been staying up pretty late with this book! Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple is a fabulous book! I sped through it so quickly that I was actually sad when I finished it!
I bought it on my iPad for only $4.99 from the apple bookstore, which was much better than shelling out the $14 at Barnes and Nobles or Target. I originally bought it to read on the train during my commute but pretty soon I had started reading it at night before bed.
The book itself is a culmination of e-mails, memos, letters, and personal diary entries, also told from the point of view of Bee. Bee is Bernadette's 14 year old daughter, a talented and intelligent student, and is about to graduate from middle school with all straight A's. Her parents, Bernadette, is an eccentric and dormant genius architect, also my spirit animal, and her dad, Elgie, is a vital programmer at Microsoft. They live in rainy Seattle in a giant beast of a house, that was a former girl's school and is decaying around them. Since Bee managed to get all straight A's during her time in middle school her parents give her what she wants more than anything - a trip to Antarctica. A myriad of misfortunate events follow after they plan to embark on this trip and Bernadette goes missing...or runs away...or kills herself...or simply vanishes.
This book is so quickly paced you honestly can't put it down, with each e-mail or intra-office memo, you delve deeper into mystery and wanting to know what happens next!
Each character is also written so well! You feel as if it is Bernadette talking to you or as if Audrey Griffin, a "Gaeler School Gnatt" and Bernadette's arch nemesis, is being snippy and ignorant with you! The characters also seamlessly interact and fit into the dizzying plot perfectly.
The book can get pretty dark at some points, but with Bee as your guide it doesn't feel heavy or hopeless, it just honestly bums you out, for lack of better word. I love that about the book though! It makes and takes something so seriously and heartbreaking and deals with it in a way that oozes optimism and childish innocence.
Bee and Bernadette are also written to be your best friends! They start off as complimenting one another and then quickly Bee turns into a mini me of her mom, and I am sure that you like me will totally cheer about that!
The book is written in a prose that you wouldn't expect from a book made up on documentation and such little narrative - but Semple used to write for Arrested Development so I mean what do you expect?
It's funny and so full of heart and warmth, you'll want to laugh out loud in public and highlight the beauty that is the character's introspective thoughts - you'll honestly just be so touched and inspired by this story!
I recommend it 100% ! GO BUY IT NOW! On your iPad, at the bookstore, just do it!
10/10
Such a fabulous and fast read. I promise you'll be halfway through it before you know it!
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