Where'd You Go, Bernadette

By Maria Semple ,

Book cover of Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Book description

A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times).

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's…

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Why read it?

15 authors picked Where'd You Go, Bernadette as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Packed with sharp wit and strong opinions, this novel follows the once-famous architect Bernadette Fox, who mysteriously goes missing ahead of a family vacation to Antarctica. After reading her outrageous and uproarious interactions with fellow parents, neighbors, and her virtual assistant, told through emails, notes, memos, and more, it’s no wonder she’d want to disappear.

Somewhere along the way, while raising her brilliant daughter Bee, Bernadette loses her identity and her creative spark. This novel explores the price a genius must pay when she’s expected to conform to a way of life she never envisioned for herself. 

Bernadette can be difficult to like, but that's partly why I love her character. She's unapologetically authentic with sharp edges and a serious dislike of Seattle. Rather than grimace at her put-downs of my hometown, I laughed because she included inside jokes only Seattlites would understand, and there was a granule of truth in all of it.

I'm intensely interested in the challenges and rewards of motherhood. Portraying it as something emotionally draining and frustrating, utterly consuming and ultimately wonderful, Maria Semple captured what many of us experience using Bernadette as her medium.

From Nova's list on books that make you belly laugh.

I love this highly imaginative story about Bernadette, who dares to seek more fulfillment in her already full life. I love that the book shows how a woman can so deeply love her child and embrace motherhood and still be hungry for her other, former, and future creative self and all the potential therein.

The title refers to this dilemma while also to the wild goose chase that Bernadette sends her exceptional daughter and husband on to find her in the wilds of Antarctica. This book touched my heart and surprised me.

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Book cover of Rooted in Sunrise

Rooted in Sunrise by Beth Dotson Brown,

Ava Winston likes her life of routine in Lexington, Kentucky. Then a tornado blows it away. Ava is safe in the basement, but when she emerges, only one corner of her home stands. Rather than crumbling under the loss, she feels a load lifted. Maybe something beyond the familiar is…

How can you not love a novel about an agoraphobic mother who somehow promises her 15-year-old daughter that she’ll take her to Antarctica?

The mom, Bernadette, knows she can’t handle that kind of trip, but in her desperate attempts to make it work, things get out of hand, and Bernadette disappears. It’s up to 15-year-old Bee to play detective and find her. Set in Seattle, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? is a delightful mix of comedy and satire with a wonderful message about the need to face up to the disappointments in one’s past.

From Nancy's list on runaway moms.

At the heart of this book is an important message: creativity cannot and should not be suppressed.

I’m a creative person, and if I’m not writing, I’m making things with my hands—paper crafts, water coloring, miniatures, cross stitchyou name it.

In this book, Bernadette gives up her joy of creativity because of relentless criticism, lack of appreciation for her work, and self-imposed responsibilitiesuntil she discovers it’s the work that matters.

There is so much to love about this interesting, thought-provoking book. Bernadette is an awesome character—a brilliant architect whose early success has stopped her cold.

And…

From Anastasia's list on the absurdities of the workplace.

There’s something cathartic about reading a midlife meltdown story, and this one is over-the-top hilarious. Once a successful architect, the eccentric, misanthropic Bernadette Fox is fed up with what her life has become. When she disappears without a trace, her precocious teenage daughter sets out to track her down. The story is told almost entirely through emails, letters, memos, and other bits of correspondence, making it a fast, fun read. 

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Book cover of Forward

Forward by Iulia Dobre-Trifan,

A novel about becoming, healing and courage, which spans over 40 years, interweaving complex characters from different worlds, all gravitating around a common timeless axis: the desire for happiness.

Lia, a tenacious woman who has been working successfully on her own for many years, starts a new project, one that…

Witty, hilarious, and heartbreaking, Maria Semple’s book about a modern family living in Seattle confronting modern meaninglessness is inventive and playful in its use of forms. Each chapter feels like a new opportunity for Semple to explore a different way of capturing this family of three that has begun to drift apart. Part mystery, part satire, the novel perfectly captures the absurdity of trying to understand the strange people we call family.

From Joe's list on complicated families.

When Bernadette Fox triggers a mudslide into a fancy party because of her snooty neighbor’s imperious demands, I was hooked. This wonderfully weird story of the offbeat, agoraphobic, but not-actually-crazy Bernadette is a darkly funny exploration of how easy it is for an eccentric woman to be tarred as a madwoman and rushed offstage, lest she causes more ruckus.

From Kristina's list on unapologetic women.

What I found fascinating about this book is that the escape this privileged woman (Bernadette) is trying to make is from her own life. Twice! She successfully escapes from her previous life as an architect to become a stay-at-home mom but discovers over time that what she escaped from was what she truly needed in her life. She lost her creative drive. And so, she tries to escape her new life as well. The story then becomes a search for Bernadette by her daughter and husband. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? makes it abundantly clear that the grass isn’t always greener,…

From Bryan's list on with impossible escapes.

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Book cover of All They Need to Know

All They Need to Know by Eileen Goudge,

A runaway finds sisterhood, love, and danger in a mountain town.

On the run from her abusive husband, Kyra Smith hits the road. Destination unknown. With a dog she rescued in tow, she lands in the peaceful California mountain town of Gold Creek and is immediately befriended by an openhearted…

Maria Semple takes a serious topic—the disappearance of a mother—and transforms the novel by expertly weaving humor throughout the story. Bernadette Fox is a housebound, well-regarded architect whose brilliant past is largely unknown to those around her. Just before a  planned trip to Antarctica with her family, she goes missing. The book is narrated by her 15-year-old daughter Bee Branch whose research helps her better understand her previously baffling mother. 

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Book cover of Rooted in Sunrise

Rooted in Sunrise by Beth Dotson Brown,

Ava Winston likes her life of routine in Lexington, Kentucky. Then a tornado blows it away. Ava is safe in the basement, but when she emerges, only one corner of her home stands. Rather than crumbling under the loss, she feels a load lifted. Maybe something beyond the familiar is…

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