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

Laugh out loud

This book is very quirky and funny. The character Bernadette is the best character I’ve read in a long time.

One of the best audio books

I couldn’t stop listening to this book. Beautifully written and narrated. Captured the life of an artist

Entertaining story

I started off with a newer version of this audio book. It had a music tract in the background. the tract was horrible. It was music you might expect to hear behind a video of cavorting puppies. This story is not cute and perky, and the cute, perky music behind it was such a juxtaposition that it became impossible to continue listening. I returned it after a few hours and re-purchased the original with no background music.
I have a long commute for work, so audio books are a lifesaver for me, but I really think it would be better to read this book rather than listen to it. The story was good, and I didn't have time to sit down and read it, so I went ahead and listened to it.
The good things about the narration:
*Every single line was delivered perfectly. At no time did the narrator (Kathleen Wilhoite) ever sound like she was reading off the page. She never sounded stilted or unnatural. It's a wonderful treat to listen to a narrator with that skill.
*Also, she has a beautiful singing voice and I wish I could hear her sing more.
The bad things about the narration:
*She sounds like she has a mouth full of saliva through out the entire novel.
*She pronounces words that begin with S as if they begin with Sh. Like shwim instead of swim, shcream instead of scream, etc. Maybe that's a regional accent, I don't know. But I didn't like it.
*I hated the style of the delivery for Bee. I haven't seen the printed page, but Bee's "voice" sounds like an overstimulated ten-year-old, whose lines are delivered with extreme intensity, every sentence so littered with exclamation points, italics and then bolded italics that it was extremely annoying and whatever range of emotions the character was experiencing was completely negated by it. It also made Bee sound like she was terribly clueless to any discord going on around her. At first I was confused, because I thought she must be an elementary school student, but then realize she's 14 and 15 throughout the story.

Now, for the story. I read somewhere that this book is supposed to be funny. No. It is not in the least bit a comedy, that I could tell. The characters are all horrible people. The "gnats": cliquey, snarky, pretentious, gossiping bitches. The gnats' husbands: detached, clueless. Bernadette: judgmental, condescending, negative, snobbish, aloof. Elgie: bland. Bee: nice, cute, infantile, clueless. If I had read the book instead of listening to it and found Bee's "voice" and personality in my own head, she would probably have seemed much different than I described previously.

I don't have to like the characters to enjoy a good story, and that's the case with this book. I liked the unique way the story unfolded, via messages, emails, faxes, etc. I also liked the story itself. Even though I highly disliked Bernadette, I sympathized with her life. She has suffered tragedy and loss, and she's stuck in a place where the people around her are truly horrible to her, even though she seems to have brought some of it on herself. She loves her daughter and husband.
The first half of the story showed the characters in extremely negative light (except Bee, she stays the same throughout), and the second half showed some of their better sides, for the most part.
It was a real page-turner (so to speak). I always wanted to know what happened next, and listened every chance I got.
The ending left a few loose ends, but I was satisfied with how the story played out and how Bee and Bernadette worked things out.

Great writing, great narration!

A very original idea, written in a fun format. Great characters and twisting plot. The narration was perfectly fitting, charismatic and goofy!

Unexpected and Absolutely Delightful

I grabbed this on a whim, and I'm so glad that I did!! There were moments when I actually laughed out loud while listening. Very fun story with a ton of whit. Not my usual read, but I'm really glad that I picked it up.

Loved It

Adored this book. The story, the narration, the characters were all wonderful. It had me laughing out loud in some parts and I was so sad when it ended. Maria Semple is a great author and I loved Kathleen Wilhoite's narration.

Cute

Kinda fun. Presentation format was different. It’s going to be fun to see how they script the movie. Seems like an odd presentation format for a movie.

Great story and performance

I really enjoyed this book. It was very entertaining and there were times that I literally laughed out loud. In addition to the story itself, the performance was excellent.

The BEST audio book I've ever listened to

Would you listen to Where'd You Go, Bernadette again? Why?

I may very well listen to it several more times. Shortest nine hours on the road ever.

What did you like best about this story?

The character development. The deep dig. The detail. The setting, the pace, and probably my favorite, the structure of this story.

What does Kathleen Wilhoite bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Kathleen Wilhoite, you are talented beyond belief. I honestly can't imagine how you pulled all this off, and I am in awe. There is no except this or that. Ususally, for me, it's (a woman recording) the male characters. Nope, you got 'em. You nailed every character in this book. Most entertaining for me-- and this is a combination of your talent and the incredible material you were working with-- was the interaction between Soo-Lin and Audrey.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It did make me laugh. Yes. Funny, funny. (The therapist, in the middle of everything, suggests a hug.)

Any additional comments?

There's a reason this book won't stop selling. It's just that good. What I can't get over is how good the audio is. I knew the book was so far above par writing, so exceptional, but it wasn't until I had several hours on the road that I downloaded the audio, and what Kathleen Wilhoite brings to the story is magic.

Loved the book!

The only thing that bothered me was the reader saying "realator" instead of realtor. Pet peeve. Other than that, it was a delightful and enjoyable book.