Tuesday, June 2, 2015

BBBC Review - "Where'd You Go Bernadette" by Maria Semple



This is my first month as a member of the Beauty Blogger Book Club. We read "Where'd You Go Bernadette" by Maria Semple, chosen by Ashley of If You Give A Girl A Ring

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This very unique story is told through a multitude of faxes, email messages, and other documents. Bernadette is an ex-star architect with extreme anxiety issues and is married to a Microsoft-guru, Elgin. They have a 15 year old daughter Bee, who wants to take a trip to Antarctica (of all places). The trip was a promised reward for an aced report card. Bee and Bernadette have a very close relationship, more like best friends than mother/daughter. So when Bernadette disappears without a trace days before they're about to leave for their trip, Bee is devastated and is determined to find her mom! 

I will be honest, I struggled to get through this. I did listen to it instead of reading it, so in all fairness, it could've been the narrator's voice that didn't draw me in. The narrator has a huge impact on my opinion of a book, as trivial as it sounds. Most of the book was from Bee's point of view, so the narrator tried to portray a 15 year old girl, yet it came off whiny and annoying. I had a hard time connecting and relating to the characters too. It was almost a little too "quirky" of a story for me. There were some funny parts though. I will say once Bernadette went missing, I really wanted to know what happened to her for the sake of Bee.  It did all come together in the end, but it just took a long time to get there.  In hindsight, the story format may have made mores sense to me in print rather than audio.  

Go check out what the other BBBC Members thought about the book:
Michelyn: Brains, Beauty & Basketball
Ashley: If You Give A Girl A Ring
Heather: Love To Be Busy
Lisa: Uncommon Wife Life

We also have a new member this month! I'm so excited Stephanie from The Wonky Brow has joined us and will be starting with June's book!


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For the month of June, Heather from Love to Be Busy chose The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson.  I've never read anything by this author, so I am excited to dive into something totally new!

What books are on your to-read list this summer?  

1 comment:

  1. I love audiobooks! But I usually listen to things I've already read the print version of. lol.

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