Maria Semple

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Fiction with mystery, chick lit. Humorous.
Bernadette Fox has lived with her family in a subdivision of Seattle for longer than she’s able to mentally handle. She looks at the community as all cookie cutter followers and doesn’t want to be part of the hive. She’s outsourced all her financial and day-to-day decisions to an overseas internet source from buying airline tickets, to finding a prescription for seasickness for the upcoming trip to Antarctica.
When Bernadette disappears after a neighbor intervention, the community is covered in gossip and rumors. Fifteen year-old daughter Bee knows some of those so-called facts are outrageous exaggerations and she decides to find where her mother went off the map.

🎧 Compelling story and excellent narration that had me stopping those secondary tasks so I could listen more closely to what was happening. I felt bad for Bernadette as a few specific women in the community ganged up on her and showed that simple tasks can be twisted and misconstrued. I was very impressed with Bee. The audiobook is narrated by Kathleen Wilhoite. Listening to her, I could totally visualize Bernadette and the various scenes as well as feeling like I understood Bernadette’s impatience and frustration with her neighbors.… (more)

I can't put into words the joy this book brought me while I was reading it. As a teacher, I totally understand some of the things Bernadette goes through and find it hilarious her reaction to everything. Although I did find some of the things in this plot to be a little unrealistic, it didn't change the way I felt about this book after I was done.

Semple does an amazing job with this novel, incorporating different writing techniques and literary devices, which made this read even better than what I anticipated.

Can I also say that I love the fact that it takes place in Seattle.… (more)

For me the book started off a little slow, and it took me a bit to really get into it. But once I got past all that, I couldn't put it down. I figured things out about Jeremy before Sally did, I laughed and fell in love with Teddy. Violet, oh I connected with her in so many ways. My heart stopped when Dot fell and I wanted to hurt Kurt right along with David.
I fell hard for David, even though he can be an a** at times.
I cried at the end of the book, but would read it again and again just to see the love blossom between them all and know that in the end, everyone was ok with were they are in life.
… (more)