#bookreview ~ Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Hi Y'all! Welcome back! It has been a minute since I have last chatted with you guys. I have been kind of in a writing slump, where I do have every intention of posting a post, but my writing does not meet my expectations. I don't want to write a post just for the sake of posting one.
I have read quite a few books in the last couple of months, but I am not 100% passionate about them to write a post about every single one. Like they were okay, but didn't have too many thoughts. So, I decided that I will compile all the books that I read during the month and I will write a monthly wrap up. That way I will still talk about books I liked or not liked and only write those reviews for those books that I felt passionate about. I'm skipping February, since it wouldn't make sense to post it now, so March will be on it's way soon.
In the month of February, I have found the best book I have probably read in a long time, but I also found the first book that I hated with a passion. To start things off I am going to talk you about what might be my worst read of 2020 and that was "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" by Maria Semple.
I know this book was all the rave back in 2012 where it was claimed "One of the year's best books" by PEOPLE magazine and it won the Goodreads Choice Award for Humor, which I found it pretty ironic, since this book didn't make me laugh at all. Instead it annoyed me a lot to the point I need to take breaks to disconnect from the story a bit.
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette" is written, for the most part, in email and correspondence. We are reading through Bee's (Bernadette's daughter) point of view, since she is trying to figure out what exactly happened to her mother. Bee is the perfect student and her parents have told her if she got perfect grades throughout school, she could have anything her heart desired. What Bee really wanted was a family trip to Antarctica. This spark some anxiety in Bernadette and we try to find out what led her to flee her home base of Seattle, WA.
The main thing that annoyed me about this book were the characters. I have never read a book where I despised a character so much. Audrey Griffin is the definition of upper class entitlement, where all she does is think of herself and her appearance. She never took accountability for anything and it just annoyed the crap out of me the way she would talk about Bernadette to her partner in crime, Soo-Lin. There were multiple times where I thought, I wanna slap this woman.
Soo-Lin, we have a love-hate relationship with her. She tries to become a better person, but homegirl is so lost that she really doesn't know what she is doing. If she had real friends, they would tell her to stop trying to make a friendship happen with Elgie, Bernadette's husband, it is never going to happen.
Elgie... he is a man so I really can't blame him for his mistakes, but really where you really that blind to see that your admin Soo-Lin had the biggest crush on you! Elgie really did have a good heart, but like any human he was bound to make mistakes. He was a big-shot at Microsoft, but not enough of a family man.
Bee, pretty much the only character I cared for besides Bernadette. Bee is super-smart and the perfect daughter. She is your typical 15 year old, but Bee was born with a heart condition. Despise that, she does not slow down and she is out there living her best life. Honestly, finding out Bee had a heart condition made me connect with her, since my sister also has a heart condition. It just gave me hope that everything is going to be okay, despise what we went through when she was an infant.
Finally, Bernadette. Bernadette is the sassiest, opinionated, person you will ever meet. She is not your typical mother and she keeps it real. She doesn't participate at school functions as she thinks no one will like her. She rather be at home and have her virtual assistant, Manjula, do everything for her, so she does not have to come in contact with humans. We come to find that Bernadette had some sort of anxiety which has lead her to flea. I'm not gonna lie, there were times I got annoyed at Bernadette, but just because she can also be the most rambliest person in the world.
Other than the characters, the plot was okay. I feel if Audrey Griffin was written differently or just cut of the story, then maybe this would have been enjoyable. It did keep my attention as far as wanting know what happen to Bernadette and finding out more about her life.
I do wish we had more of Bee. I fell in love with her character and I would have loved for her to shine more in the story.
Final Verdict: Definitely not the best book of the year and it wasn't LOL material either. Yes, there were some parts that made me smile, but none that made me want to bust out laughing. There were sections of this book that I found myself skimming, either because I didn't find it relevant to the story or it just got too rambly for me. I just didn't connect with this book as much as others and it definitely took will power for me not to DNF it. I just really wanted to know what happened to Bernadette.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day! It really means a lot to me and let me know what has been your worst read?
I have read quite a few books in the last couple of months, but I am not 100% passionate about them to write a post about every single one. Like they were okay, but didn't have too many thoughts. So, I decided that I will compile all the books that I read during the month and I will write a monthly wrap up. That way I will still talk about books I liked or not liked and only write those reviews for those books that I felt passionate about. I'm skipping February, since it wouldn't make sense to post it now, so March will be on it's way soon.
In the month of February, I have found the best book I have probably read in a long time, but I also found the first book that I hated with a passion. To start things off I am going to talk you about what might be my worst read of 2020 and that was "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" by Maria Semple.
I know this book was all the rave back in 2012 where it was claimed "One of the year's best books" by PEOPLE magazine and it won the Goodreads Choice Award for Humor, which I found it pretty ironic, since this book didn't make me laugh at all. Instead it annoyed me a lot to the point I need to take breaks to disconnect from the story a bit.
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette" is written, for the most part, in email and correspondence. We are reading through Bee's (Bernadette's daughter) point of view, since she is trying to figure out what exactly happened to her mother. Bee is the perfect student and her parents have told her if she got perfect grades throughout school, she could have anything her heart desired. What Bee really wanted was a family trip to Antarctica. This spark some anxiety in Bernadette and we try to find out what led her to flee her home base of Seattle, WA.
The main thing that annoyed me about this book were the characters. I have never read a book where I despised a character so much. Audrey Griffin is the definition of upper class entitlement, where all she does is think of herself and her appearance. She never took accountability for anything and it just annoyed the crap out of me the way she would talk about Bernadette to her partner in crime, Soo-Lin. There were multiple times where I thought, I wanna slap this woman.
Soo-Lin, we have a love-hate relationship with her. She tries to become a better person, but homegirl is so lost that she really doesn't know what she is doing. If she had real friends, they would tell her to stop trying to make a friendship happen with Elgie, Bernadette's husband, it is never going to happen.
Elgie... he is a man so I really can't blame him for his mistakes, but really where you really that blind to see that your admin Soo-Lin had the biggest crush on you! Elgie really did have a good heart, but like any human he was bound to make mistakes. He was a big-shot at Microsoft, but not enough of a family man.
Bee, pretty much the only character I cared for besides Bernadette. Bee is super-smart and the perfect daughter. She is your typical 15 year old, but Bee was born with a heart condition. Despise that, she does not slow down and she is out there living her best life. Honestly, finding out Bee had a heart condition made me connect with her, since my sister also has a heart condition. It just gave me hope that everything is going to be okay, despise what we went through when she was an infant.
Finally, Bernadette. Bernadette is the sassiest, opinionated, person you will ever meet. She is not your typical mother and she keeps it real. She doesn't participate at school functions as she thinks no one will like her. She rather be at home and have her virtual assistant, Manjula, do everything for her, so she does not have to come in contact with humans. We come to find that Bernadette had some sort of anxiety which has lead her to flea. I'm not gonna lie, there were times I got annoyed at Bernadette, but just because she can also be the most rambliest person in the world.
Other than the characters, the plot was okay. I feel if Audrey Griffin was written differently or just cut of the story, then maybe this would have been enjoyable. It did keep my attention as far as wanting know what happen to Bernadette and finding out more about her life.
I do wish we had more of Bee. I fell in love with her character and I would have loved for her to shine more in the story.
Final Verdict: Definitely not the best book of the year and it wasn't LOL material either. Yes, there were some parts that made me smile, but none that made me want to bust out laughing. There were sections of this book that I found myself skimming, either because I didn't find it relevant to the story or it just got too rambly for me. I just didn't connect with this book as much as others and it definitely took will power for me not to DNF it. I just really wanted to know what happened to Bernadette.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day! It really means a lot to me and let me know what has been your worst read?
Talk to you soon!
Marina
Comments
Post a Comment