Guest Review – Fiction Recommendation

We have a guest review of the book this month. I read the book in October 2018, but the reviewer read it more recently. Enjoy!

My interest in this book:  

The book was not on my radar until I received a copy in the mail a few years ago. It sat on my shelf for awhile.

Guest review: 

My friend and former colleague, Katie Stueart, wrote the following book review.  She agreed to let me include the review as part of this blog post. Thank you, Katie!!

Katie’s Book Review

In her sharply funny epistolary novel Where’d You Go Bernadette, Maria Semple tells a story of an eccentric mother, a precocious daughter, and a father who is at best ancillary to the plot even when his actions are what might stereotypically be considered drama inducing. As the title suggests, the entire book is her daughter’s investigation when Bernadette disappears after a traumatic incident. Much of the book deals with the many annoyances of Bernadette’s life and shows what happens when the trope of a sarcastic, talented, upper crust woman turns into a pathology. Bernadette judges the fashion choices of the other mothers and the crunchiness of the school her daughter attends. As a reader deeply entertained by the constant complaints of Bernadette, it is difficult to remember how narrow her audience is — her daughter Bee, husband Elgie, and sometimes, her long-distance Indian assistant Manjula. 

Some reviewers state that it is inconclusive whether or not Bernadette is depressed or merely a frustrated artist — as her friend and collaborator Paul Jellinek said to her, “If you don’t create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society.” After a tragic experience with a house she designed, Bernadette transitions from an artist to a critic — a person with such exceptional taste that she gradually isolates herself from all of the people whose standards don’t meet her own — in her mind, basically, the entire population of Seattle. Her personality made me think of the Dorothy Parker quote — “If you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here.” But Bernadette is sitting alone. 

Semple encourages the reader not to judge Bernadette with the clinical eye of a trained psychologist but with the loving grace extended by her daughter, her husband, and even her rivals. 

A Final Note

Katie and I have yet to see the movie, but we hope to do so when it is released on DVD or digitally. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book.

Have you read the book and/or seen the movie? Would appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments.

If so inclined, check out other book recommendations on the blog.

Next blog post: “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine”