Maria Semple is the author of This One Is Mine and Today Will Be Different. Before turning to fiction, she wrote for Mad About You, Ellen, and Arrested Development. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker. She lives in Seattle.
"[An] engrossing and whip-smart modern epistolary
novel..."--Stephan Lee, Entertainment Weekly
"[A] cracklingly smart family dramedy.... [I was] stunned and
transported by this extraordinarily powerful and intelligent
novel."--Lev Grossman, Time
"[A] dazzling satire.... One of 2012's most hilarious books."--The
Brooklyn Eagle
"[A] romp of a novel.... Semple...nail[s] Seattle's idiosyncrasies
in wickedly funny send-ups."--Barbara Lloyd McMichael, The
Bellingham Herald
"A comedic delight..."--Family Circle
"A hilarious, nasty, heartfelt satire about parenting, privilege,
genius, resilience and life in Seattle."--Gillian Flynn on
Today
"A lovely story of a creative lull."--Jessa Crispin, Architect
Magazine
"A powerful mosaic of mental illness, artistic temperament, and
family melodrama.... Semple's background in television and
comedy... provide[s] the foundation for this subversively funny
novel and its all-too-rare blend of humor and heart.... In a time
when everything is a version of something else, how
extraordinary-and exciting-to read a novel that subverts
conventions to create an experience that feels so fresh."--Jeremy
Medina, The L Magazine
"A quirky comic masterpiece...about an irresistibly precocious teen
and her awesomely agoraphobic mom.... BERNADETTE is an ingenious,
enjoyable, continually surprising farce."--David Hiltbrand, The
Philadelphia Inquirer
"A shrewd yet compassionate portrait of family dysfunction and the
volatility of genius in laugh-out-loud, irresistibly high-spirited
prose.... WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTEtakes readers on an original
and movingly imaginative adventure."--Catherine Straut, Elle
"A touching and hilarious portrait of the anxiety producing, high
powered Seattle lifestyle of a somewhat eccentric family of three
(and their dog Ice Cream).... This is a great read, well written
and populated by characters you care about deeply."--Ruth Freeman,
The Norwalk Citizen
"A tremendously entertaining work of social satire combined with a
mystery that kept me wondering what would happen next right up to
the end."--Boing Boing
"A truly inventive mother-daughter story full of offbeat
characters, clever humor and drama both intrapersonal and
interpersonal."--Laura Pearson, Time Out Chicago
"Agoraphobia and Antarctica are among the elements in Maria
Semple's terrific novel."--Parade
"An epistolary novel for the twenty-first century.... Paced like a
beach read, BERNADETTEhas a scathing wit and a casual storytelling
style that pulls the reader in and forces her to listen."--Capital
Times' blog
"Clever, witty and laugh-out-loud funny. And that's a rare and
wonderful thing."--The Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Comic lines and...fast-paced events."--Nan Willard Cappo, The
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Delicious, funny, irreverent, [and] smart..."--Minnesota Reads
"Delightfully droll.... Semple...cuts a wry slice of a life-one
that's populated by private school helicopter parents, obsessively
eco-conscious neighbors, and green-juice swilling, TED-talking
husbands-and one that's sharp enough to make us feel slightly
relieved about not having to live anywhere quite so
bucolic."--Megan O'Grady, Vogue
"Fast-paced and compulsively readable...and beneath its nimble
storytelling is a resonant exploration of a mother and daughter's
unbreakable bond."--Elliott Holt, The Morning News Tournament of
Books
"Few novels will make you laugh aloud the way Semple's satiric take
on a disintegrating Seattle family does."--The Charlotte
Observer
"Funniest book since the invention of the printing press."--Gary
Shteyngart for Entertainment Weekly
"I don't even know where to begin with how fantastic it is.... I
ate up the Microsoft-obsessed setting and the fabulous,
mad-but-not-really Bernadette. Go, get it, thank me later."--Megan
Angelo, Glamour.com
"If wacky, anxiety-prone geniuses are some of your favorite people,
then pick up Maria Semple's WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE to add
Bernadette Fox and her family to your list of hilarious companions.
Bernadette and company don't mind cursing, so if you do, please be
warned. But if not, then you've got a stamped passport to Semple's
expertly crafted and rollicking, laugh-till-you-cry adventure that
will have you tearing through the pages to find out if Bernadette
is gone for good."--Dawn Andrus Paine, Daily Herald (Utah)
"If Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl represented the dark heart of the
summer literature, Maria Semple's...BERNADETTE embodies the
sunnier, funnier side.... Semple has a flair for satire and
screwball jinks, and she has produced a great gift to avid readers:
a book that you never want to finish reading."--Connie Ogle, The
Miami Herald
"In appearance, this may be the perfect beach read to go with your
retro bikini. Inside the cover, Semple's novel is funny,
suspenseful, multi-faceted, multi-media, and sad, too - spot-on
social commentary..."--Jen Doll, The Atlantic Wire
"In her second novel...Semple pieces together a modern-day comic
caper full of heart and ingenuity....a compelling composite of a
woman's life-and the way she's viewed by the many people who share
it. As expected from a writer who has written episodes of Arrested
Development, the nuances of mundane interactions are brilliantly
captured, and the overarching mystery deepens with each page, until
the thoroughly satisfying dénouement."--Publisher's Weekly (Starred
Review)
"Intertwined with the funny stuff is the heartfelt story of a
personal crisis of a creative talent who's slipped off the rails...
Bernadette's journey is fresh, funny, and thought provoking."--Anne
Payne, The Florida Times-Union
"It's the first epistolary novel I've ever loved, and sharp as
hell."--Emma Straub for Salon
"Maria Semple brings her A game."--Chicago Now
"Maria Semple dissects the gory complexities of familial
dysfunction with a deft and tender hand. WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE
is a triumph of social observation and black comedy by a skillful
chronicler of moneyed malaise."--Patrick deWitt, author of The
Sisters Brothers
"Marketed as a beach read, give this to your soccer moms who have
come to the realization that maybe they aren't 'all that.' With a
Tiffany-blue cover, it's wrapped perfectly!"--Michelle Will, The
Kitsap Sun
"One of the big burst-of-oxygen books this year.... clever and
inventive but also genuine and heartfelt."--Gillian Flynn for The
New York Times' "Inside the List"
"One of the funniest stories you can read this year."--Donna
Liquori, The Albany Times Union
"Really, really funny.... A novel of refuge if you find yourself,
like Bernadette, bogged down by the peskiness of
privilege."--Stacey Pavlick, Spectrum Culture
"Semple paints each character with depth and tenderness while
keeping the tone upbeat; no easy feat for a novel about a mother
who pulls a disappearing act."--Korina Lopez, USA Today
"Semple, once a writer for Arrested Development, picks apart the
mundane interactions of everyday life with a hilarious hand, and
you're sure to be as swept up in this witty, inventive mystery as
we were."--Emily Temple, Flavorpill
"Semple's affecting characters, not-necessarily-nice humor and
surprising plot twists make this novel an enchanting
ride."--Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
"Semple's ear for satirizing this world is sharp and scathingly
funny; she could probably turn her novel into a stand-up
act."--Stewart Oksenhorn, The Aspen Times
"Semple's epistolary novel satirizes Seattle, Microsoft, helicopter
parents, the elite, and the overeducated-while revealing truths
about family, genius, ambition, and resilience."--Gillian Flynn,
GQ
"Seriously funny and clever."--In Touch Weekly
"Smart [and] entertaining."--Ihsan Taylor, New York Times Book
Review
"Stands to become a cult favorite.... Like Jane Austen-who set the
gold standard for social satire-Semple's most ridiculous characters
are convinced that they're the normal ones, and it's wonderful fun
to watch as they behave abominably, believing themselves
blameless.... Semple has a keen ear for the nuances of different
voices, and it's a joy to get to know these people.... Bernadette
is...marvelous. Her rants read like the best comedy routines....
It's the rare book that actually deserves the term "laugh-out-loud
funny," but I found myself reading passages from almost every page
to anyone who would listen, even as I could barely articulate the
words through my own laughter."--Malena Watrous, San Francisco
Chronicle
"Stunningly astute.... Beyond its ethnographic value as a snapshot
of the underlying hypocrisies of the way the top five percent lives
now, WYGB delivers at least one knowing chuckle per page in an
innovative structure worthy of its own TED Talk."--Christina
Spines, Word & Film
"Sublime..."--Frank Bruni, on his blog for The New York Times
"Tart [and] searingly funny."--Jessica Grose, Fast Company
"The characters in Where'd You Go, Bernadette may be in real
emotional pain, but Semple has the wit and perspective and
imagination to make their story hilarious. I tore through this book
with heedless pleasure."
--Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom
"The romp that ensues throughout Semple's sophomore novel is
cleverly crafted, and allows the reader to develop strong ties to
the author's masterfully drawn...[and] quirky characters."--Shelly
Walston, The Wichita Eagle
"There's a lot to like in Semple's charming novel, including the
vivacious humor and the lesson that when creative forces like
Bernadette stop creating, they become 'a menace to society.' Even
more appealing is the mutually adoring mother-daughter relationship
at its warm heart."--Heller McAlpin, NPR
"This book is hysterical, kind of wacky, and utterly
original."--Entertainment Weekly's "The Bullseye"
"This divinely funny, many-faceted novel...leaves convention
behind. Instead, it plays to Ms. Semple's strengths as someone who
can practice ventriloquism in many voices, skip over the mundane
and utterly refute the notion that mixed-media fiction is bloggy,
slack or lazy.... The tightly constructed WHERE'D YOU GO,
BERNADETTE is written in many formats-e-mails, letters, F.B.I.
documents, correspondence with a psychiatrist and even an
emergency-room bill for a run-in between Bernadette and Audrey. Yet
these pieces are strung together so wittily that Ms. Semple's
storytelling is always front and center, in sharp focus. You could
stop and pay attention to how apt each new format is, how rarely
she repeats herself and how imaginatively she unveils every bit of
information. But you would have to stop laughing first."--Janet
Maslin, The New York Times
"This funny and heartfelt novel has it all: love, mystery,
infidelity, and humor. The complications of human life are on full
display and examined with absurdity."--Laura Anderson,
BLOGCRITICS.ORG
"To say this book is quirky would be something of an
understatement. It is also very funny, snarky, smart, occasionally
confusing, and cleverly constructed."--Aspen Daily News
"Unputdownable!"--Sumana Ghosh-Witherspoon, Parents.com
"Utterly delightful....Semple used to write for the revered cult
hit Arrested Development, and she brings plenty of squirming comedy
to the novel, which manages to be that rare good read that actually
makes you feel good at the end. Her send-up of Seattle is
hilarious, with its Victims Against Victimhood support groups, moms
offering organic gardeners swiss chard in lieu of payment, and
teachers who are so PC that fourth graders are expected to
seriously debate the pros and cons of the Chinese occupation of
Tibet. But the heart of the book belongs to Bee, who, as an
admissions counselor puts it, tests off the charts for grit and
poise; and her mother, who, for all her neuroses, did a bang-up job
of turning out one terrific kid."--Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science
Monitor
"Warm, dark, sad, funny-and a little bit screwball.... This is an
inventive and very funny novel that gets bonus points for
transcending form."--Susan Coll, The Washington Post
"Well-plotted and masterfully satirical.... WHERE'D YOU GO,
BERNADETTE is really, really funny, and not in the usual way that
suggests the author is trying to be funny to cover up their
deficiencies in plot or styling. As it turns out, Maria Semple is
both a good writer and a funny writer, but she prefers to be the
latter."--Janet Potter, The Millions
"Wildly creative."--Jennifer Haupt, Psychology Today
"With its big heart set on acceptance, BERNADETTE feels something
like coming home."--Paul Constant, The Stranger
"With only her second book, TV writer-turned novelist Maria Semple
has won rave reviews with a withering, but ultimately affectionate
satire of Seattle's privileged set."--Chris Michaud, Reuters
"WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE is fresh and funny and accomplished,
but the best thing about it was that I never had any idea what was
going to happen next. It was a wild ride..."--Kate Atkinson, author
of Case Histories and Started Early, Took My Dog
[A] clever story of family dysfunction."--Dailycandy
You don't have to know Seattle to get Maria Semple's broadly
satirical novel.... Underlying the nontraditional narrative are
insights into the cost of thwarted creativity and the power of
mother-daughter bonds, although a reader may be having too much fun
to notice."--O, The Oprah Magazine
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