Sincerely Reading

Title: “Where You Go, Bernadette,” by Maria Semple

Summary: 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 a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It 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, secret correspondence–creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world. (via Amazon)

On a Scale of “Don’t Bother” to “Couldn’t Put Down”: I give it a “Finished it in 3 days! I had to know the ending.”

Why? First off, the writing was amazing. The book was told through several different forms of correspondence and POVs, yet I was able to easily keep up and was dying to know what came next. From the initial description I read on Amazon, I thought it was just going to be another mystery, and I was OK with that. But I was so happy to find out it was so much more. It was the tale of 3 sides to every story (yours, mine and the truth), a family’s dynamics, a love/hate letter to Seattle, and an author’s pure brilliance. With every turn of the page, you know whatever is happening in the book is not what it seems, but as a reader you’d never guess that ending.

If someone likes ________, they’d like this book: If you read “Gone Girl” and enjoyed the mystery and a story told from multiple people, you’ll like this. Just don’t expect the evil, scheming characters.

When would be the best time to read this book? I liked reading this over a vacation, when I had long periods of time to really get engrossed in the chapters. It was easier than having to refresh myself every couple of days on what had happened already.

Sincerely Read is a new feature I’ll have on the blog every few weeks. When it’s not one of my book recommendations, it will be a friend’s. Drop me a note if you’d like to review a book in an upcoming post. You can find more of my book recommendations on my Goodreads page. Follow along!