“Just because it’s complicated, just because you think you can’t ever know everything about another person, it doesn’t mean you can’t try.”
Bernadette Fox is an architect who hasn’t created since her daughter was born 15 years ago. Without a creative outlet, her focus tends to be on not connecting with anyone or anything but her daughter. She fails to connect with the other mothers at the school. She fails to connect enough to call and make her own appointments. Her connection with her own husband is flimsy, too, as she puts in little effort, but he words endless hours at Microsoft. Their house is falling apart, but Bernadette can only focus on her daughter and how nothing else is working right in her life.
I am late in reading Where’d You Go, Bernadette. The book has been on the bestseller list and has been made into a movie. When I was at a bookstore browsing, I saw a copy and decided it was time to read it. I didn’t know too much about the plot, but it’s always interesting to read books that get turned into movies.
Bernadette’s daughter, Bee, wants to go to Antarctica to celebrate graduating 8th grade and her parents agree to go. This one decision creates a domino affect that changes all of their lives. They must finally see each other for who they each are and find a way to be a functioning family. I can’t give away too much of the plot – there are a lot of twists!
Where’d You Go, Bernadette is told through a series of letters, emails and interviews, which are then interjected with the story from Bee’s point of view. It is a really interesting way to read a book and it kept me wondering what was going to happen next. It was interesting to read this shortly after reading One Beautiful Dream by Jen Fulwiler as they both address what happens when women who are mothers don’t pursue their God-given talents alongside motherhood. I would recommend this to people who like Fredrik Backman or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Just Fine by Gail Honeyman. Quirky characters seem to make for fun reading.
Do you enjoy quirky characters in novels? Share on the blog!