Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Maria Semple, Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Little, Brown and Company (2012)

Compared to The Girl on the Train last week Semple’s work is wonderfully refreshing, inspirational and fun. Both are wonderful examples of their genre and just like The Girl on the Train, this book sold exceptionally well and was translated into a number of languages. While Hawkins work is thrilling and dark, Semple constructs a story that at times is equally thrilling and provides a much larger dose of humor. The story follows the genius architect Bernadette Fox as she faces daily struggles of not fitting in in her community in Seattle as well as trying to look after her daughter Bee (Balakrishna is her daughters full name). However, the story is not told from her perspective, rather through a series of documents, diary entries and email print outs. This method of exploring the life of Bernadette is fascinating as it gives an insight into the lives of those around her beyond any awareness she may have. This makes interactions much more entertaining as the reader sees the emotions and feelings of both sides. This book for the large part contains dramatic and soap opera-esque events and it starts with Bernadette’s interactions with the ‘gnats’. The ‘gnat’s’ are the other mothers from Bee’s school and particularly Audrey Griffin and Soo-Lin.

Building onto these early events the reader finds out more and more about Bernadette’s past. A recipient of the prestigious MacArthur award for her architectural projects while in LA, Bernadette moved with her husband Elgin Branch to Seattle as he transferred to the Microsoft office in the new city. Both are incredibly smart and Bee inherited this intellect. This state of affairs is clear and it is also apparent that the family is affluent even though their house is in disarray. The thrust of the story comes after an incredibly busy and stressful time for the family and led to Bee proposing a family vacation to Antarctica. The story really unfolds in the journey toward this vacation. The months leading up to the proposed vacation see a gradual unraveling of Bernadette’s life. Her hiring of a virtual assistant from India sees another intertwined story line. Just as intertwined are the interactions between Bernadette, Audrey and Soo-Lin as well as events at the Galer school that Bee attends. The reader also gets to see into the lives of Elgin and Bee more personally. While there are so many different subjects and story lines addressed they do all become drawn together on the main thread of Bernadette going missing.

Without giving away too much of the story the collection of documents, emails and diary entries actually turn out to be part of a book written by Bee about her mothers experience. This is also part of the story line of Bee and her path through school and time at a boarding school. Bee receives all these documents in a envelope around half way through the book so there are sections describing her construction of the book that is this book. If that seems confusing then in summary, Semple’s book is actually Bee’s book with diary entries providing context. Bee’s love and consistent pursuit for her mother after Bernadette’s disappearance is inspiring and the reader sees Bee standing up for Bernadette in the face of all the criticism she receives.

On top of the inspiring nature of Bee defending her mother, Bernadette’s own path is equally inspiring in a different form. The Seattle community Bernadette found herself in was not supportive and after finding herself in a slump she eventually finds her spark by the end of the book. Bernadette being a genius creative who became worn down by life and an unsupportive community as well as unfortunate events her own life story finally is fed up and escapes. The story reaches a relieving and comforting end as well as a promising one when considering the lives of the family.

Elgin Branch as Bee’s father is also a significant thread in the jumble of story lines. His story is equally interesting, although being a fairly absent father documents considering his story do not appear until later in the book. Elgin is a higher up in Microsoft working with artificial intelligence and his project Samantha 2 becomes highly referenced in sections of the book. Also included is his rise to fame through a TedTalk on Samantha 1 as well as the future of AI. What Semple does so well through Bee is creating a deep image of these characters, especially those that are the most important to Bee herself. Building on Elgin’s story is Bee’s clear contempt for the gnats (Galer Street mothers), one of whom (Soo-Lin) becomes her fathers assistant.

This is a fun and generally light-hearted book that will offer an escape from reality for most readers. There are the everyday frustrations seen from the perspective of Bee and Bernadette alike, then this is built up with the crazier aspects of the families lives. As much as The Girl on the Train is a wonderful book that I enjoyed reading, Where’d You Go Bernadette was a much more fun process. The story also has an air of mystery that kept me wanting to find out what happened. The presentation and style of this book also make it easy to read quickly with the various document forms truly adding to the enjoyment. Switching from emails to diary entries for example encourages the reader to empathize with specific characters and consider the various perspectives involved. I may have preferred The Girl on the Train but this book is also worthwhile reading for an escape from reality and a more smiles.