of course with a cute cover like that, "where'd you go bernadette?" caught my eye while browsing amazon. however, i didn't give it much thought until i saw it on emma roberts' instagram:
really emma roberts?!?! i haven't seen any of her tween movies but loved her in "it's kind of a funny story" and "celeste and jesse forever". and i know it sounds silly but girl is literary. she is always posting pics of books she is reading so i started to follow her instagram. and yes i plan on reading the books she posts. (ps she also has really good fashion sense, i purchased a pair of rhinestone cat ears because she posted similar headbands on instagram. i know i need help.)
but seriously i have nothing to be embarrassed about because this first book i read because of emma roberts was amazing!
to start the book was written by maria semple who wrote for "arrested development". and of course, anything associated with the show has to be brillant. i am not sure how important of a writer semple is/was (i'm a fan but not a fanatic). but i could totally see bernadette as a character on the show. bernadette would be an architect michael hired to redesign the homes.
anyway back to the story. so the title best summarizes the story. bernadette fox has disappeared and her daughter bee branch (real name: balakrishna, because she was born with a heart condition and was blue when she was born) is determined to find her. the book is actually a book written by bee and is a complication of emails, letters, and other paperwork bee hopes lead her to her mom..
there are a bunch of subplots that lead up to bernadette's disappearance. first, is the family trip to antarctica that bernadette and her husband, elgin branch, promised bee based on her grades. due to this, there is the virtual indian assistant that bernadette hired to help with organizing the trip; bernadette is a recluse (the story explains why, it's quite sad and broke my heart when i found out). there is bernadette's feud with the gnats (what she falls the moms at her daughter's
school), especially audrey griffin, who is one of those self-righteous my child can do no wrong that i absolutely hated at first. last there is soo-lin, audrey's BFF and elgin's assistant, and who by the end i hated though she was quite pitiful. all of their lives crash into one another and results in bernadette's disappearance. (i don't want to give too much away because i want you to read it!)
all in all, bernadette is such a delightful character, she is a bit of mess but that is part of her charm. i really want to be her best friend. she seemed like a great person to get coffee with and talk shit about what is wrong with the world. se goes on these random rants which annoyed her husband but i found hilarious. she is also this amazing architect that was green and a dumpster diver before it was cool! her best piece was "the twenty mile house" in which she had a plot of land and the house and the furnishings were made up of items that were found within a twenty mile radius and all the materials had to be source locally. what a cool idea! she won a genius award for it!
also she wasn't the only genius of the family. her husband worked for microsoft and had this super famous TED talk. his project is a robot and i won't give you details because the TED talk was one of my favorite parts.
i can't express how much i enjoyed this book. so many great pop cultural references in it too. it will have you smiling and laughing to yourself. if there is one book you read this year because of this blog, this is it! i absolutely loved and am sure you will too!
No comments:
Post a Comment