Book Review: Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Author: Maria Semple
Genre: Humour
Type: Fiction

I had selected this book for my Popsugar reading prompt 16- A book with a question in the title. I am still not sure how I feel about this book. I will try my best to put it into words.

The whole title is a little misleading. I was expecting some search expedition for a missing person from the start. But it comes almost at the end.

Bernadette is an opinionated mother of a 15 year old, Bee. She hates her neighbourhood and does most of her work through an outsourced personal assistant. Her husband is a Microsoft employee and is almost absent physically and emotionally. Bernadette has gone through so many issues like a big hit on her career as an architect, issues with her pregnancy and Bee’s health problems. When her daily life gives her grief, Bernadette disappears. Bee, who is very close to her mom, decides to find her. The remaining story says if she finds her mom or not.

The storytelling is done through a series of letters, notes and emails and a few narrations from Bee. So it makes the reading quick and easy. It is hilarious at a few scenes. But I wouldn’t say it is a laugh out loud humour. There is a whole lot of satire and sarcasm on the suburban culture of private schools, mommy clubs and Microsoft culture. But the world and characters in which the satire is played on is too shallow. I did feel sorry for Bernadette once all the reasons for her anguishes are explained.I couldn’t care any less about her neighbours. I couldn’t pine for anyone here. That is one downside about this book.

Verdict: At the end of the book, all I felt was uncertainty. I am still a bit confused if this is satire or humour.