Review: Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel by Maria Semple
Publisher: Little, Brown, & Co.
Publication Date: August 14, 2012

Aloof and disinterested in socializing, Bernadette Fox is the object of morbid curiosity from her neighbors and the parents at her daughter's school.  Everything gives her a tizzy fit (cold Seattle people, weird design of intersections in Seattle, Idaho drivers, Canadians, etc.) causing trips outside her house to be major ordeal.  Trying to avoid human interactions and the ensuing anxiety leads Bernadette to basically hand over her life to her secret virtual assistant Manjula in India.

Bernadette's husband Elgin Branch works at Microsoft and is the lead on a major project. He is totally absorbed in the Microsoft culture to the detriment of his relationships with his wife and daughter. Her daughter Bee (short for Balakrishna) is 14 years old and small for her age.  They represent the bulk of her non-Manjula communications.  Despite her anxiety issues and irritability, she is a great mom to Bee.  When Bee requests a trip to Antarctica as a reward for excellent grades, Bernadette agrees to having a family vacation.

Everything starts to go to pot when a neighbor accuses Bernadette of running over her foot.  Removing her blackberry bushes at the same neighbors request just results in a fundraiser ruining mudslide.  Add in some alleged shadiness on the part of Manjula and Bernadette starts to slip even further.  Being recognized by a passerby is the icing on the cake.  Elgin, unaware of all the troubles Bernadette is dealing with, starts to fear for her metal health after several strange incidents.  When he holds an intervention, Bernadette bolts. 

Using the accumulated documents, Bee discovers Bernadette's whereabouts and we finally get to here from the lady herself. Bernadette Fox was a innovative designer; she was incorporating environmentally friendly building techniques before they were a thing.  She is a legend in architectural circles for building The Twenty Mile House plan free and entirely from materials sourced from both the sites and locally.  After the incident, Bernadette runs to Seattle and avoids any mention of the Twenty Mile House.  Elgin thinks once Bee is born that all is past but once he starts paying attention he sees her massive issues for the first time.  Despite Bernadette's issues, her help and support allowed him to be the Microsoft absorbed man he was.

Where'd You Go Bernadette is a great novel.  I totally like this book almost 100%.  The characters were well written and crafted with care- even some of the side plots that seemed superfluous were integrated with the rest of the plot. I was so engrossed: it was totally annoying to have to take breaks for work, dinner, socializing, etc. Maria Semple wrote for one of my favorite shows Arrested Development and now one of my favorite books this year. 


**This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.**

Review & Giveaway Safe from Sea

 

Title: Safe from Sea by Peter Geye
Publisher: Unbridled Books
Published: September 28, 2010
ISBN: 9781609530082
Pages: 256




 Olaf Torr is dying so it's only natural that he call his estranged son and ask for help getting his cabin ready for winter.  Even though he has held his father at arm's length for years, it's only natural that Noah would leave Boston for a small town in Minnesota.  As he travels, still unable to understand why he agreed to his father's request unsure what extended contact to do to their relationship.

Olaf's work as a sailor left him offshore for extended periods of time and makes him somewhat of an unknown quantity to Noah.  The major turning point in Olaf's life was the wreck of the epic ship Ragnarok one frozen winter.  After surviving the wreck, a piece of Olaf seemed to be missing.  To the detriment of his family, he turned to alcohol for solace.  Noah's memories of Olaf are dominated by these alcohol soaked episodes.  He and his wife have been trying unsuccessfully to have a child and he can't imagine why a devoted husband and father would become the man Olaf became.  Yet he is willing to sacrifice a fertility cycle with Natalie to fulfill his duties to his father.

Seeing his father, he realizes Olaf is not joking about his impending death.  Olaf has even started creating the anchor for his hoped for watery grave.  Noah realizes now is finally the time to put to rest some of the differences he has with his father.  The worn out old man he sees is definitely not the harsh, demanding father of his youth.  Over the course of several days, Olaf shares stories of his youth, memories of his mother in Norway, and the true unabridged story of the wreck of the Ragnarok and his rescue the next morning.  From the stories, Noah is able to see alternate stories to the ones that have been the basis of his resentment towards his father.  He feels his issues with his father pale in comparison to the massive cross his father has born for decades and feels sorrow for the wasted years. 

This was a great book.  The action takes place over the course of the week yet feels neither prolonged nor rushed.   The classic story of an estranged parent and child was given a twist with the shipping back story, the wreck of the Ragnarok,  and the ending.  The characters were richly portrayed.  Olaf could have come off as detestable but his story lent so much depth and he came across as real not a caricature.  It was great seeing the arc of emotions Noah has toward his father from beginning to the end of the story. 

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher Unbridled Books in exchange for my honest opinion.  Would you like a hardcover copy of this book?  Enter below with your name and email.  Contest open to residents of US and Canada.*

Review: The Traitor's Wife by Kathleen Kent

 

Title: The Traitor's Wife by Kathleen Kent
Publisher: Reagan Arthur/Back Bay Books
Published:September 26, 2011
ISBN: 9780316068642
Pages: 352

  The Traitor's Wife is the prequel to the Heretic's Daughter.  This book is the true start of the story of the Carrier family.  We get a glimpse into life in the colonies when they were still a raw place that offered promise to anyone willing to seize their destiny (as long as they minded the parson and other busy bodies). 

Martha Allen is a 20 year old spinster who is hired out by her stingy father..  At the start of the story, she is being deposited at her cousin's house.  All of this because her reputation as a mouthy woman with sharp wits has diminished her marriage prospects.The indignity of being servant to one's own kin is further compounded by the fact that her actual wages are paid to her father.  Her first task is to stake her place in the family as more than a maid.

Numerous rumors have Thomas Carrier as the axman to Charles the First.  His reticence to even discuss his past in the Old World intrigues Martha and she starts snooping through his things for the truth.  Eventually Thomas comes to tell her of his past so that she may see the path she is choosing for herself.The more she finds out about Thomas the less the actual facts of the past matter to her.  Even when assassins and their agents attempt to locate Thomas and spirit him away to England, she decides to stick by his side. 

Thomas Carrier, her cousin's hired man, is an enigma to her. She feels both attracted and put off by him.  Several events including a festival and wolf attack bind them together and allow these proud people to display their mutual admiration and growing love for each other.United by their mutual place outside of societal norms assassins, ill will from Martha's cousin, and ill health cannot bar the joining of Martha and Thomas. 


Having read the Heretic's daughter, I was pretty excited to read the Traitor's wife. I really wanted to read the back story of Martha Carrier, who stood up to the bullying of the Salem Witch Trials, and Thomas Carrier, who refused to force his wife to compromise her principles.  Discovering their back story gave a richer depth to the people they were in the Heretic's Daughter. The Traitor's Wife offers a peek into early colonial America and the culture and mores of the early colonist who seemed to spend their time fighting illness, Native Americans, and the harsh terrain.  The Traitor's Wife more than delivered on the promise of the Heretic's Daughter as well as being a great standalone novel.

** This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.  **

Review: The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill

 
Title The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill
Publisher: Free Press
Published: July 26, 2011
ISBN: 9781451611595
Pages: 240

Ripped from the headlines (the late 19th century ones), The Butterfly Cabinet is based on the death by suffocation of young girl. We learn the background story via the maid Maddie and the lady of the house's narration.  Maddie narrates from her entry in to service of the family and the lady of the house Harriet Ormond narrates from her prison.  As the story unfolds, the web of secrets that cloaked this family tragedy is unwound. In addition, we get an idea of the political turmoil and pandering that contributed to Mrs. Ormond's conviction.


Based on the "facts" as they stand, Mrs. Ormond is irrefutably guilty of excessive cruelty to her children and by extension the death of Charlotte.  In her prison diaries, she details her difficult relationship with her parents and her resultant difficulties with the rearing of her own children.  Harriet details how she bristles at the attitude and actions expected from a woman such as herself.  Striving for self-control, she expects the utmost discipline from every one - servants and her children alike.  Unfortunately, her inability to be flexible leads to her downfall.

Maddie finally has a chance to unburden herself of the secrets that have plagued her for nearly eight decades.  Her story allows us to see the story from the angle of the working class and servants, who are viewed looked down on yet necessary for the class system to continue.  Her seemingly unimportant presence belies the significant part she plays in this family's history for several generations.

The book was a great peek into a past era that still informs the present.  The seemingly unnecessary elements are all wound up at the end to complete the story.  Politics, religion, class system, and culture all collide to create the perfect storm to ring in the end of an era.  Bernie McGill manages to create a suspenseful and detailed story from a mysterious true event from an age gone by.

**This book was provided by the publisher Free Press in exchange for my honest opinion.**