Author: Maria Semple
Pages: 330
Published: 2012
Challenges: Outdo Yourself
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Humor
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library
Description: Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world. (via Goodreads.com)
Thoughts: I had more expectations in regards to the book, but they fell a bit a short despite the fact that by the end of the book I was actually enjoying it. I was expecting that I would have a similar reaction to the book as some may have had, but it felt a bit somber and a bit superficial. There almost was almost a sense that there was a sadness behind Bernadette; it was almost as though she was running from something that happened in L.A. It felt like she was compensating for something by putting all her energies into bringing up Bee and as though she was being something that she probably wasn't.
Bottom line: I have mixed thoughts about this book, in that it took me awhile to get into the book and once I was able to get into the book, I couldn't put it down (part of it was that I had to return the book to the library). I honestly don't know who I could recommend the book to because not only was it a book that I struggled in reading, its also a book that I read a few weeks ago and somehow I forgot my exact thoughts. But I think if you like books that are written in a non-conventional manner and like books that have a twist of humor to them, I think you would enjoy this read.
Rating: 3.5/5
Pages for 2013: 7916
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