Where’d You Go, Bernadette is quite possibly my favorite book of 2013. And I think that says something, considering I’ve already had a string of major successes that would be my favorite in any other year. Silver Linings Playbook, Language of Flowers, Pillars of the Earth, all were current favorites, and now WYGB has surpassed all of them.
Told in the voice of a 13 year old girl, WYGB is almost entirely unique. It’s honestly like nothing I’ve ever read before. It has bits and pieces of narrative style that I’ve seen done in other ways, but here, it’s taken to a new level. Agoraphobic Bernadette Fox, mother to Bee, has disappeared. For the first half of the book, we are treated to emails, reports, notes, etc compiled to describe the events leading up to Bernadette’s disappearance, interspersed with Bee’s commentary, which is one of the most clever and fun ways of telling a story I’ve ever seen. Then Bernadette disappears. Where did she go? Bee will find out. And the answer is entirely unpredictable, as is every revelation we’re given throughout the book.
Comedy, mystery, emails, technology, architecture, scathing commentary on busybodies and Seattle = one fantastic book, which seemingly has it all.
I really can’t stress enough how much I loved this book. I loved it so much that within weeks of finishing the hard copy I listened to it on audiobook (also awesome, if you’re interested in those kinds of things). It’s a keeper, and one worth reading over and over. 5/5
Comedy, mystery, emails, technology, architecture, scathing commentary on busybodies and Seattle = one fantastic book, which seemingly has it all.
I really can’t stress enough how much I loved this book. I loved it so much that within weeks of finishing the hard copy I listened to it on audiobook (also awesome, if you’re interested in those kinds of things). It’s a keeper, and one worth reading over and over. 5/5
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