LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
One of our Books of the Year 2013.
Winner of The Melissa Nathan Award For Comedy Fiction About Life and Love 2013.
I don’t like books written in emails, journals, notes etc and had not realised this was, just as I hadn’t realised Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was! This has the same feel, same contagious look, same wacky scenario (well not quite), same relentless pull. From page one I was smitten, my dislike for emails forgotten. It is the mother/daughter relationship which is so brilliant, that and the character of Bernadette – a prize-winning architect who doesn’t realise that what she needs in life is a new project. Clever, witty and hugely satisfying.
July 2013 Debut of the Month.
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013.
The Lovereading view...
The Curious Incident meets A Visit from the Goon Squad meets The Simpsons - this is a wildly imaginative, laugh-out-loud but also very poignant novel that will generate huge word-of-mouth buzz...
A "Piece of Passion" from the Arzu Tahsin, Deputy Publishing Director, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Fiction...
'It’s the sort of novel that you can’t wait to finish and then feel bereft when you have. It is also an extremely satisfying novel to give to friends and family while you can guarantee they’ll love it too. I don’t think I’ve read anything as irresistibly funny or deeply poignant for a very long time. Bernadette is a wonderful character and there is something of her in us all which is why I found her so compelling. She puts her family under a lot of pressure, but there is something about Bernadette that keeps them on her side. She is a delightful conundrum, and her daughter Bee adores her unconditionally. So, when Bernadette disappears and her husband appears to have reached the limits of his compassion, it is left to Bee to try and find her. And then the novel plunges into a journey to the wild seas and devastating chills of Antarctica. But redemption is a very distant location and almost a hard to navigate as Antarctica itself.
I can promise that it is almost impossible to put this book down.'
Sarah Broadhurst
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About
Where'd You Go, Bernadette Synopsis
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 a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette vanishes. It all began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle -- and people in general -- has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence -- creating a compulsively readable and surprisingly touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780316204262 |
| Publication date: |
2nd April 2013 |
| Author: |
Maria Semple |
| Publisher: |
Back Bay Books an imprint of Little, Brown and Company |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
352 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Romance / Relationship Stories
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Maria Semple Press Reviews
'A fresh, flamboyantly witty new voice'
Helen Fielding
'A delightfully funny book, that constantly catches one by surprise, Where'd You Go, Bernadette combines a shrewdly observed portrait of Seattle life with, of all things, a mysterious disappearance in Antarctica. A pleasure'
Matthew Kneale, author of English Passengers
'Where'd You Go, Bernadette is fresh and funny and accomplished, but the best thing about it was that I never had any idea what was going to happen next. It was a wild ride...'
Kate Atkinson
'Maria Semple dissects the gory complexities of familial dysfunction with a deft and tender hand. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a triumph of social observation and black comedy by a skillful chronicler of moneyed malaise.'
Patrick deWitt, author of The Sisters Brothers
'Bernadette is unconventional, slightly eccentric and very out spoken, which ensures for hilarious results as she lives in a typical American community. This book is a fine and very funny example of how conventional and socially conditioned people are and what can happen when one person refuses to obey society's rules. A witty, engaging and enjoyable read.'
Suz & Jaydee (Book-shelf)
Author
About Maria Semple
Maria Semple worked as a television writer in Los Angeles for fifteen years, working on hit shows including Ellen, Saturday Night Live, Mad About You and Arrested Development. Her first novel, This One is Mine, was described as 'shocking, memorable, scathing, funny, delightful, hilarious and exquisite'. She lives in Seattle.
Author photo © Elke Van de Velde
More About Maria Semple
