Where'd You Go, Bernadette? (Book Post)

Just finished reading a very satisfying book: Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple:

Oh, no! Don't be over! You know it's an instant favorite when you're blindsided by its end, and then you want to cry. 

This book, to put it simply, rocked. It was just what I wanted and needed to read, right here and right now. Semple tells the story of a family - father Elgie, wife Bernadette, and daughter Bee - that is, like the home in which they live, falling apart at the seams. Bernadette, of course, is the star of the show, but only just - Bee won't let you forget about her, and she's instantly lovable (not in that cutesy way, thank God). Here's the bare bones of it: Elgie and Bernadette moved from LA to Seattle and wound up having baby Bee, who was sicker than sick when she was born and had to make it through God knows how many surgeries so that she could keep on keeping on. But she does! She makes it, and winds up at Galer Street School, where the mothers are committed enough that they should be committed and Bee is the smartest little whirlwind to ever hit that place. God, I wish I had read this book when I was president of the PTO, because there's a lot of bitching and moaning that sounded suspiciously familiar - but hilarious. Like, wipe your eyes desperately while you're reading so that you don't miss a sentence hilarious. And that's the thing. Semple's real genius isn't her characters, or her setting, or the plot - all of which are brilliant and unexpected and thoughtful and weird - it's her WRITING that makes this book amazing. What a fantastic f'ing idea - fine writing makes a fine book. But it's not fancypants style writing - it's suffused with the kind of humorous rants that I aspire to in my own daily life. Whether it's the main character launching into an epic tantrum over the "gnats" who keep bothering her everyday existence or the self-righteous and terribly funny reports of bad luck from one of Galer Street School's Mothers of Horror, it's enough to make you sit back and read it twice.

And meanwhile, the plot continues to roll along, and it's a funny, fantastic one. All in all, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a hilarious, hungry - and yes, although Bernadette would cringe to hear me say it - heart-warming read. I couldn't put it down, and why would I want to? Recommended for anyone who likes smart people, or funny people, or are geniuses, or feel left out, or have crazy ideas that sometimes come to fruition, or ever served on a school volunteer committee ever, for any reason. You have to read this. Go get it right now! 

There's just nothing better than a good book sometimes, you know? Especially one that gets you right where you live. I feel like Bernadette sometimes - sure, she hates to talk to people, she won a MacArthur genius award, she holes up inside an Airstream trailer that she had helicoptered into her backyard, and she's a very chic dresser, so we're not exactly ALIKE - but there were things that struck me all the same. Like how she can't sleep when she's excited, or fascinated, or feeling horrible. And the way that she loved to offload all the details of her life onto someone else (even though that didn't turn out so well). There's also the fact that she didn't really accomplish much, but she had possibility that was thwarted by real life. Sometimes, I think I could have been really famous, or at least in certain circles. I could have been written up in some magazine somewhere, where maybe they'd ask me to answer questions about my favorite authors and most important memories - or maybe they would just want to know what was inside my purse (fine, I'll tell you, it's right here: two wallets, a black cap, a ziploc bag full of watermelon, a slingshot with a horse head on it, a pair of charcoal leather-wrapped Fendi sunglasses that I'm just a LITTLE too pleased to own, a bottle of vicodin, a couple of tubes of lipgloss, two bouncy balls, a reusable bag from Whole Foods, a Sharpie fine line pen {always!}, and half of a Goodness Knows Very Cranberry snack squares treat), I don't care! - but instead life got in the way and I wound up with a non-tenured job that gives me no time for research (but lots of lovely time for students, whom I love), a house without a/c, and this ridiculous cancer business. I still have time though, right? To make it big? Or rather: Make It Big? Big enough, anyway, to satisfy myself? I hope so. In the meantime, I'm just going to go lust over the Anniversary Sale at Nordstrom's and wait until it's boot season again.