To say this book is
quirky would be an understatement! I had no idea that author Maria
Semple was a writer for Arrested
Development, one of my all-time favorite television shows, until I had
finished the book; probably why I enjoyed the writing style so much. Anyway, titular
character Bernadette Fox is a legendary Los Angeles architect with a prestigious
MacArthur Fellowship (or a “Genius Grant”) to her credit. After a complete
project meltdown, she and hubby Elgin Branch (a rising star in the field of artificial
intelligence at Microsoft) move to Seattle, a city that Bernadette loathes, and
things go from bad to worse. The couple’s smarty-pants daughter, Bee, is
enrolled in a hilariously depicted private school, complete with hyper-involved
parents that Bernadette avoids like the plague (and refers to simply as “gnats”).
Some of the book’s most ridiculous and laugh-out-loud moments involve
interactions with fellow mom, neighbor and nemesis Audrey, the bane of
Bernadette’s existence.
As the family plans
to travel to Antarctica, a reward for Bee acing her report card, Bernadette
resorts to planning the entire trip with the help of a virtual assistant in
India. Her email correspondence with the assistant is hysterical!
As the novel
progresses, however, Bernadette becomes even more irrational and insular. Then
she disappears. The desire to find out where Bernadette went kept me up late turning
the pages, even though the storyline lost a bit of steam.
All in all, if you’re
looking for an amusing, clever read, this is the book for you!
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