Over the summer I cancelled my SiriusXM membership because between borrowing CDs from the library and downloading books off Overdrive I almost always had an audiobook to listen to in the car. Typically, I leave my book listening to the car but not with Where’d You Go, Bernadette? I couldn’t put it down (so to speak) and since it was downloaded onto my phone I didn’t have to. Bernadette went with me to my lunch break at work, while I was cooking and even while I was scrubbing my bathroom.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette is told through various email correspondence, hand written notes and even faxes with Bernadette’s daughter, Bee, interjecting. How all this came into Bee’s possession is eventually revealed and the narrator (Luke’s sister, Liz, from Gilmore Girls!) does an excellent job with voices so the listener doesn’t get confused.
Are you done? You can’t honestly believe any of this nonsense. People like you must create. If you don’t create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society.
Bernadette Fox was an eccentric artist/ architect in Los Angeles who moved to Seattle after a devastating professional loss. Her husband, Elgin Branch, works long hours at Microsoft on a groundbreaking project while Bernadette remains a stay at home mom. She has become a bit of a recluse, resorting to an online assistant in India to do her basic errands. When Bee comes home with an impeccable report card she is rewarded with the promise of a trip to Antarctica that sends Bernadette into a bit of a tailspin. There is also a feud between Bernadette and another mother at Bee’s school, Audrey Griffin, who vents about Bernadette to her best friend, and Elgin’s administrative assistant, Soo-Lin Lee Segal via email.
The first half of the book is wonderful; you know Bernadette goes missing from the get-go but the narrative of “why” is quick-witted and captivating. The book derails a bit right before and then after Bernadette disappears, probably because I wasn’t a fan of the Soo-Lin character and she takes center stage. Eventually, when things shift back to Bee, the story picks back up and becomes impossible to step away from.
I am currently on the wait list for Semple’s newest novel, Today Will Be Different.