Published by Little, Brown and Company on 14 Aug 2012
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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 thought that this story would begin with the disappearance of Bernadette Fox and then follow Bee as she gathered a paper trail and worked backwards to find her mother. But in fact, this book is the paper trail, and reading this book was almost like reading a primary source -- a collection of emails, invoices, and school memos, with Bee's commentary throughout bringing it all together.
People like you must create. If you don't create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society.
As we follow the paper trail from the beginning, we learn about the cumulation of events that led up to Bernadette's eventual meltdown and disappearance. It starts with suburban drama between private school moms, but rapidly escalates and keeps you on your toes with excitement and absurdity.
That's right. You're bored. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it's boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be.
I loved Bernadette. Can I just say to the judgmental private school moms, poor ol' Bernadette was just trying to mind her own business! Maybe she doesn't like people and she's a bit of a recluse, but so what? #Relatable!! Let her live!
She and Bee made a great duo. I loved how the two of them understood each other -- quirks and all, of which they both had many -- and how they always stood up for and believed in each other.
I can pinpoint that as the single happiest moment of my life, because I realized then that Mom would always have my back. It made me feel giant. I raced back down the concrete ramp, faster than I ever had before, so fast I should have fallen, but I didn't fall, because Mom was in the world.
My only qualms were a rushed ending (though the whole story was a rollercoaster so maybe a rushed ending was only consistent with the pace of the rest of the story, but even rollercoasters slow to an end), and Bernadette's husband Elgin was questionable (but in terms of his character, not in terms of how he was written).
Overall, a fun and heartwarming read with mental health themes and satirical notes on private schools and the tech industry (Elgin is a Microsoft Research Group Manager).
