East Fishkill Community Library Online Book Group discussion

Share your thoughts on Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple here!

Bernadette Fox has vanished.

When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces--which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades. Where'd You Go Bernadette is an ingenious and unabashedly entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are and the power of a daughter's love for her mother.

I really enjoyed the format of this book. I'm a big fan of books that are told in letter or email format where you read the conversations between characters. I liked this book a lot for the first 2/3. (view spoiler)[It kind of lost me when it was revealed that Elgie cheated on Bernadette and got his assistant pregnant. I didn't like Elgie very much to begin with and that killed it for me. My favorite character was definitely Bee, but Bernadette was very interesting too. It was awful that her house was destroyed. (hide spoiler)] This book has been on my to-read list forever, and I was glad that I read it, but it wasn't my favorite book.