Wow. So this book bounced all over the place and my brain still feels fizzy because there was a lot of things going on, but boy did I love this book! I loved Bernadette, Bee, their weird dog Ice Cream, and I loved the emails and letters between two women who I would have throttled if I ever met in real life (Audrey Griffin and Soo-Lin). This book was in parts funny and sad and back to funny again. I picked this because I wanted to know what the upcoming movie starring Cate Blanchett was about. I am definitely glad that I picked this up and it wasn't a very long book so it didn't take me too much time to move this up on my read list.

"Where'd You Go, Bernadette" follows mother and wife Bernadette Fox as well as the people who are in her life (her husband Elgie and daughter Bee) as well as an increasing unhinged neighbor (Audrey) and the new admin in her husband's life (Soo-Lin). The book begins when Bernadette's daughter Bee asks to go to Antarctica since her parents promised her whatever she wanted if she got straight As (or in this case all S---FYI school now is weird). Bernadette and her husband agree and we find Bernadette dreading the trip, but still hiring someone who is in India to do the day to day tasks needed for the trip as well as help Bernadette with paying bills, dealing with lawyers, and even in one case making restaurant reservations. You quickly realize that something is not right here and it's a quick road to figuring out what is going on. I do have to say that I loved that my initial impressions of people flip flopped a lot while reading this. Except I started off being irked by Soo-Lin and ended up diskling her.

I can't really say who is the main character in this. We get POVs from Bernadette and Bee. We get comments about Elgin from other characters. We get emails and in one case letters and police report detailing information about other people in this story. Due to that I would say that though Bernadette is the person the book revolves around for the most part, we don't get very in depth with her.

The writing style is hard to pin down in this one because of the various ways that Semple tells this story. I still think my favorite part of this book was the police report. Good grief I laughed. Like a lot. And I thought to myself that the person in question would so be one of those women who would be memed and hashtagged to death nowadays. The flow works very well even though at first I was wondering who the heck everyone was, but you quickly get into the rhythm with this book.

The book takes place in Seattle but we also have Antarctica in play here and I loved reading about it. I went to Seattle last year and loved the place. Initially we have Bernadette hating the place after moving from LA. But in the end she makes peace with the location. I personally loved the views from the water, going out on a boat tour, and even visiting the aquarium and Space Needle. I had a few friends who went to Antarctica years ago to go scuba diving. I am still mad at myself for passing that trip up, but the thought of going into cold water just made me shudder.

The ending made me smile inside though one wonders about what's next for Bernadette.

I’d had this book on my kindle for ages and when Char mentioned it and said her friend who never says anything is delightful, described it as exactly that,I thought I have to give this a go.

The story is set in Seattle and is basically about the disappearance of Bernadette, if you hadn’t already guessed that by the title. At the start we meet Bernadette’s daughter Bee who narrates parts of the story, while the rest is a collection of e-mail’s and notes. I loved this style of narrative, it made the story more unique and fun.

Bernadette, the protagonist, felt so real. She was flawed and a bit of an ass at times who did some really stupid things, but I could forgive all that because she was so damn funny. It was this humour that was one of the main reasons I kept reading, even when she drove me mad!

There were several side characters who helped make this even more fun, such as Audrey (the arch nemesis of Bernadette), Soo-lin who had a crush on Bernadette's husband and Ollie O who worked at Bee’s school.

Regardless of the humour the story still managed to touch on themes such as anxiety and mother-daughter relationships. The book felt light, but underneath it had an importance that means it'll stay with me far longer than it would have.

I did have to suspend my disbelief a few times, but strangely this didn’t detract from my enjoyment as it usually would. For me, some of the more ludicrous events seemed to add to the story. Don’t ask me how that happened! I can only assume it’s the strength of the author.

I'm really enjoying this book, even if Bernadette is kind-of an ass. She's still hilarious, though.

I love the way this is set out: e-mails interspersed with narrative. It feels fresh and original and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks for the recommendation, Char.

"The truth is complicated. There's no way one person can ever know everything about another person."

I think you either have to be odd or enjoy reading about an odd person to really like this book. I am a bit odd myself so I ended up liking this overall. The further along you read in this book the odder Bernadette and the plot (certain points of the plot become unrealistic) become.

Bernadette was quite an interesting character and I was really fascinated by her throughout the book. I was really interested in what had happened to her in the past that made her become who she was. Ultimately I was a bit disappointed when the past was revealed as I thought it would have been something bigger than what it was. What I really loved about Bernadette was her mother daughter relationship with Bee.

I liked most of the plot of this book but felt like certain things towards the end definitely were too unrealistic. I don't want to spoil anything for other readers but I really don't think that anything that Bernadette did towards the end could or would ever happen.

The good outweighed the bad for me and I really enjoyed how the story was presented. If you're looking for something a bit odd but entertaining nonetheless then this book is for you.