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

Enjoyable

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were authentic, plot engaging and the performance was spot on! I could not wait to listen each day.

The Narrator Needs A Raise

This was a fabulous production of the story!! It was like watching a movie, with all the voices, accents and even singing by the narrator!

Slow start but great ending!

Lagged a little at first but wound up being a great adventure. Really liked the characters and the reader did a good job.

Who knew blackberry vines could be so funny.

If you could sum up Where'd You Go, Bernadette in three words, what would they be?

Delusional, quirky and fun.

What other book might you compare Where'd You Go, Bernadette to and why?

Maybe some of Carl Hiassen's books. Crazy characters who do crazy things.

Which scene was your favorite?

It has to be everything involved with the blackberry vines.

If you could take any character from Where'd You Go, Bernadette out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Of course it would be Bernadette. Why would I want to miss out on her insightful, but delusional labels of events and people.

Any additional comments?

"Bernadette" isn't all fun and games filled with zany characters. This book does have a message to mothers or women in general. By caring for others, women can lose their own identity. You can't take care of others unless you take care of yourself first.

Audio Book Perfection

There could not have been a better choice for narrator. Kathleen Wilhoite is amazing. A must-listen!

Not what I expected - much more fun!

Though this title kept popping up on lists from readers whose opinions I respect, I avoided listening to it for a long time because the cover looked so much like one of those silly "Shopaholic" books. The book turned out to be a lot less superficial than it looked, it was a fun story with enough depth to it to leave you with a little something to think about afterwards.

Overall, Kathleen Wilhoite did an excellent job of portraying the various characters. I'm slightly puzzled by Bee's "East Coast Tough Kid" tone - she sounds like she's from Philly, but it's a pretty minor gripe about an otherwise terrific voicing of the tale.

Definitely worth a listen!

Interesting, enjoyable story

The story is narrated by B, the 15 year old daughter of Bernadette, and is mostly told through emails and other documents. I found B to be very likeable. She is smart, enthusiastic, and clearly loves her mother. I also liked Bernadette, but you find out that she is brilliant and not living up to her potential. Clearly something is wrong, perhaps some form of depression, but she does not need to be committed. I normally only listen to audio books when working out and doing chores, but this was so good and I wanted to find out what happened so much that I just listened to it.
The narrator did a good job voicing B, you could tell it was someone young. I think she sounds younger than 15, but anyway, it makes it clear when it's B doing the talking. The adult female characters all sound kind of similar, except for the ones with accents. The accents may not be perfect, but are pretty good and you know that the character is english or australian or whatever. I thought she did a good job.
Overall, a good book that I will probably listen to again.

Great book, interesting and well written while remaining light

The rants about Canada and Seattle are hilarious and accurate. This book was engaging and also adventurous.

Fun, Weird Quirky Book

To my fellow Audible users: All I can say is beware of the narrator. She is by far the worst. I began to dread her piercing shrieking voice. It doesn't happen all the time but enough to put your nerves on edge waiting for her to shriek. Her voices, particularly B's and Bernadette's sounded so much alike....and her imitation of other voices, just terrible. I did endure to the end of the book because I liked this weird tale of a quirky family. It was a good story but I would have enjoyed it much more had I read it myself.

So much YES!

This book was a blast! Vivid and smart. I’ll miss the characters now that it’s over.