Book Review!: Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel

If you want to talk about fast, fun reads, you want to talk about Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.

:: buy it here on Amazon ::

I was coming off a heavy and strange memoir (which I loved, but was a challenging read) and wanted a fun page-turner to read pool-side while we celebrated our anniversary.  (Aside: Turns out the SLS in Beverly Hills is not a chill-out-and-read-your-novel-by-the-pool pool scene, it's like a the-pool-is-3.5-feet-deep-so-you-can-stand-and-drink-a-drink-in-the-pool-while-you-dance-to-the-DJs-terrible-music pool scene.  Regardless, I enjoyed my extremely overpriced mojito, had fun people watching and even got some reading done, because this book is just so fun to read it captures your attention no matter how many metallic bikinis there are in your line of vision.)

The book starts with a fun narrative device, weaving different pieces of correspondence together to tell the story of Bernadette, an eccentric Seattle-by-way-of-Los-Angeles-by-way-of-Ivy-League-education woman, and her subsequent disappearance.  I don't want to say much more about Bernadette, because so much of the fun is figuring out more about our weird heroine/anti-heroine. 

Bernadette's total distaste for her Seattle life (complete with bigwig Microsoft husband and precocious daughter at a "community-minded" private school) is hilarious, and I feel like books usually aren't "funny" even if people say they are.  The sense of humor is sort of like if Portlandia were instead Seattleandia and it focused exclusively on the rich people who live there.  The book is also surprisingly sweet, especially the mother-daughter dynamic throughout.

I'd say this is a great beach read, but beach read season has passed, so instead, I'd say it's a great book to consider as an escape from intense family time during Thanksgiving.  (Shoot, too early on that recommendation too.  Just read it, okay?)

Do you have any fun-easy-but-good-reads recommendations?  Please share!