Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Maria Semple was a writer for “Arrested Development,” “Ellen,” and “Mad About You” before becoming a novelist.
“Where'd You Go, Bernadette” is an epistolary novel with lots of back and forth e-mails, letters, and journal entries. The main characters are Bernadette and Elgin Branch and their daughter, Bee. They live in the Silicon Valley; Elgin works for Microsoft, as one of their brightest innovators. Bernadette gave up her architecture career to marry Elgin. She was so good she received the genius grant, and her “20 Mile House” was a precurser of the green movement. She basically used only materials from a twenty mile radius.
Bernadette had several miscarriages before a successful pregnancy with Bee. Bee had a heart disease, however. Bernadette and Elgin used Bernadette's genius money to buy a former school for troubled girls that stood high on a hill overlooking the city. Bernadette was not an easy person to get along with. Blackberry bushes grew below the house. A neighbor wanted them gone, but they served a purpose; when it rained in Seattle, they absorbed mud slides. Bernadette agreed to remove the bushes, but she also knew what would happen if she did. Bernadette refers to her neighbor and all the other mothers who go to Bee's school as “gnats”.
Then Bee gets the equivalent of all A's on her report card, and Elgin and Bernadette had promised she could pick where they went on vacation if she did. She picked Antarctica. They go but not in the order that one would expect. As the title implies, Bernadette disappears after Elgin has a tepid affair with one of the gnats, who now has a job working for him as an administrator.
The rest of the book deals with Antarctica, a cruise ship, several research vehicles, some of the scientists who work there, the different kinds of penguins, some of which are really mean, believe it or not. Don't try to pet one.
The theme of the book has to do with genius; Bernadette is the way she is because she gave up what she was good at, architecture, and Elgin didn't realize it until it was almost too late. Bernadette isn't always plotting against the gnats. She treats Bee more like a sister than a daughter and she can be funny, calling Bee a “little rotter.”
There's a blurb on the cover from Jonathan Franzen. Remember him? He didn't want to be picked for Oprah's book club because he was a literary writer. He says about WYGB, “I tore through this book with heedless pleasure,” pretty high praise from someone who is so self-absorbed. I didn't like it that much, but I thought Bernadette was an original character, somewhat of a rarity these days on the best-seller list.
“Where'd You Go, Bernadette” is an epistolary novel with lots of back and forth e-mails, letters, and journal entries. The main characters are Bernadette and Elgin Branch and their daughter, Bee. They live in the Silicon Valley; Elgin works for Microsoft, as one of their brightest innovators. Bernadette gave up her architecture career to marry Elgin. She was so good she received the genius grant, and her “20 Mile House” was a precurser of the green movement. She basically used only materials from a twenty mile radius.
Bernadette had several miscarriages before a successful pregnancy with Bee. Bee had a heart disease, however. Bernadette and Elgin used Bernadette's genius money to buy a former school for troubled girls that stood high on a hill overlooking the city. Bernadette was not an easy person to get along with. Blackberry bushes grew below the house. A neighbor wanted them gone, but they served a purpose; when it rained in Seattle, they absorbed mud slides. Bernadette agreed to remove the bushes, but she also knew what would happen if she did. Bernadette refers to her neighbor and all the other mothers who go to Bee's school as “gnats”.
Then Bee gets the equivalent of all A's on her report card, and Elgin and Bernadette had promised she could pick where they went on vacation if she did. She picked Antarctica. They go but not in the order that one would expect. As the title implies, Bernadette disappears after Elgin has a tepid affair with one of the gnats, who now has a job working for him as an administrator.
The rest of the book deals with Antarctica, a cruise ship, several research vehicles, some of the scientists who work there, the different kinds of penguins, some of which are really mean, believe it or not. Don't try to pet one.
The theme of the book has to do with genius; Bernadette is the way she is because she gave up what she was good at, architecture, and Elgin didn't realize it until it was almost too late. Bernadette isn't always plotting against the gnats. She treats Bee more like a sister than a daughter and she can be funny, calling Bee a “little rotter.”
There's a blurb on the cover from Jonathan Franzen. Remember him? He didn't want to be picked for Oprah's book club because he was a literary writer. He says about WYGB, “I tore through this book with heedless pleasure,” pretty high praise from someone who is so self-absorbed. I didn't like it that much, but I thought Bernadette was an original character, somewhat of a rarity these days on the best-seller list.
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