Tolog Review: Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
by Maria Semple
reviewed by Julia Yellen

Maria Semple’s contemporary fiction novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, tells a story about a family’s unbreakable love. Main character Bernadette Branch, once the most influential and innovative architect of her time, loathes what her life has become in Seattle. At the height of her career twenty years before, a devastating incident occurs that destroys her hopes and dreams to pursue her passion. Bernadette falls into a pit of bitterness, semi-depression and isolation. In Seattle, her notorious bad attitude is cause for almost everyone to hate her. Angry at the world, she feels that everything she creates fails. Her only creation that brings her joy is her fifteen-year-old daughter and best friend, Bee, who reflects the same drive and intelligence as her mother used to demonstrate as an architect. As a reward for Bee’s perfect grades in eighth grade, Bernadette’s family, consisting of Bernadette, her husband and Bee, plans for a trip to the South Pole. Bernadette grows anxious about the trip details: getting to Antarctica and having to interact with other people; just before the trip, Bernadette mysteriously goes missing.

This page-turner is about Bee’s investigation to find her mother through emails, hand-written notes, digital logs and articles she recovered. Throughout the story, readers uncover clues about Bernadette’s past and gather inferences about where and how she goes, all through the eyes of Bee. We explore many different perspectives of people in Bernadette’s life and see how every character’s stories intertwine before and after Bernadette goes missing. Semple's writing style is different than anything I have ever read and has a wonderfully interesting and refreshing plot. The book’s unique format left me completely captivated as I witnessed how each character felt rather than just one. The suspense and ambiguity of Bernadette’s disappearance kept me at the edge of my seat as I searched for the missing pieces and connections between past and present. Semple portrays the two main characters, Bernadette and her daughter, Bee, as confident and independent women. The way they do not care about others’ opinions and lead their lives the way they want made me want to stand up and clap in the middle of reading. Their sassy and sarcastic demeanors cracked me up and inspired me. The hilariously authentic yet unpredictable situations that occur due to Bernadette’s eccentric behavior cause for an interesting story that I, for one, could not put down and recommend to anyone who loves good mysteries and strong main characters.