Where'd You Go, Bernadette

A Novel

By: Maria Semple

Narrated by: Kathleen Wilhoite

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle - and people in general - has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence - creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

©2012 Maria Semple (P)2012 Hachette Audio

One of the best narrators I've heard on Audible!

Clever and interesting plot with some unpredictable twists and turns. I adore the character of Bee. This book should be listened to; from the voicing of the characters to the singing it is one of the best books narration-wise I've listened to recently.

Fun listen!

Loved it! So much fun. I got completely entranced and couldn't stop listening. Very engaging.

Best book on Audible

This is BY FAR my favorite book I have listened to on audible. A Hilarious sweet mystery.

Could not stand the reader's voice

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This was not the worst book I've listened to, but I found it very difficult to care for any of the characters. I did, about half way through, wonder where Bernadette went (though I had a pretty good idea). All the characters are overblown.

What did you like best about this story?

There is great loyalty among the three family members and they actually understand each other quite well. A member of my book club says this is about agoraphobia but I disagree - it's simply about a whole bunch of people who are dysfunctional and have enough money to give into their whims and act in ridiculous ways.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I wanted to throttle this reader with the affectation of a childish voice. Just because the book is written from the viewpoint of a teenager, you do not need to use a high pitched, whining voice more akin to a 7 year old. I almost stopped listening to get the book at the library and read it.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would not bother with this as a movie.

Beautiful Story

A lovely story and bond between daughter and mother. As a Seattle transplant, I can totally relate and agree about the Seattle Freeze and Seattle lifestyle described in the book.

I love this book!

Heard the book now to watch the movie

I loved Kathleen Wilhoite's performance, she made the story more enjoyable. There was parts that was harder to understand do to the audio description vs. a visual as in the letters, however this didn't stop me from listening. A few parts of the story was a bit unnecessary, put tolerable. Would look up future auditable from Kathleen. But, not book a trip to Antarctica, its sounds just to cold to me.

WOW LOVED IT

Could not turn off except to sleep a little! Listened in car on trip for 2 days with my husband. We were hooked to the end!
A movie couldn't possibly capture us like this book did!

Great narration and realistic fiction

I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed all the voices, accents and timing utilized by the narrator. The story although fictional, reads like a true story. The descriptions of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest are very accurate.

Five Stars

I absolutely adored this story and couldn’t put it down. The twists and narrative were perfect.

The narrator will make you regret having ears.

The book itself is fantastic and one of my faves of all time. The narration on this one though is absolutely tragic. It sounds like (since there's a large portion of the book narrated by a child) that they actually hired a child who sounds just ridiculous as the adult characters. The voice is so unbelievably shrill when there's any inflection (its all or none, so over the top) and there's an awful lot of extra inflection. It's very hard to understand who is talking, you'll just keep thinking it's the kid and it isn't. When playing a man, the narrator lowers the register which almost sounds like a normal woman's voice. So you're not going to really know when the men are talking either.
The main character is so sardonic (in the best way) and the narrator gets so EXCITED and EMPHASIZES the wrong WORDS all THE time. It's completely disingenuous to the character. It's excruciating and so disappointing.
So, get an old school printed copy and read it. The voice in your head is better than what you will hear on this audio book. That one star for narration is because it won't let me give zero (or negative stars).