I enjoyed the way this book relied on correspondence between multiple people and Bee's perspective to tell the story. I had a great time reading it. I can see it will be a lot of fun to talk about all the perspectives at book group.

I was laughing so hard at the beginning of this book, how Bernadette handles the "mean girl" mom's at her daughter's school is hilarious. Then the book takes a strange and unconvincing turn.
I just did not believe that the Bernadette at the beginning of the book, would make the choices the author had her make at the end.
Just dissapointed.

A great choice for book club: a quick read that moves from funny to sad and then back in the blink of an eye. I think that it holds myriad topics for discussion, not the least of which is balancing love of self with love of family.

It really was a strange and sad story. Unfortunately, there probably are families like that. Her husband should have recognized that she needed help a lot sooner. I felt sorry for the daughter.

Our whole group loved this book! Finally, a light hearted, fun novel.

We all loved the \\\'gnats\\\' and the overzealous PTO person, who we\\\'ve all met!

Book was fun to read, interesting story. Light paced and easy to read.

I liked the way the book was written using emails, faxes and letters along with narration from Bee. The book kept my interest and it was fun. A great summer read.

An insightful story presented in a very fun and interesting manner. The central idea of the novel seems to be that no matter how close we may be to someone, we can never truly understand them, we can never realize the whole complexity of human personality or psychology, but that does not mean we should stop trying to reach out to those we love.

When I started this book, I was not sure I would like it. It seemed strange, a bit discombobulated, perhaps a bit disorganized. However, it turned out to be a really wonderful, delightful read. On a certain level, it is humorous, tender and tragic, all of at once. It is the story about all kinds of relationships, the story of a family that no longer communicates, that dances around each other as they search for meaning in their lives, in all the wrong places. The meaning of family is lost in the confusion. The characters are all flawed except for one, Bee Fox, the teenage daughter of Elgin and Bernadette.
Elgin is an upwardly mobile, well respected nerd, working for Microsoft, receiving international accolades for his accomplishments. Bernadette is an international, award winning, female architect in a male dominated occupation. They are surrounded by people who can only be described as “phony”, working to build up appearances, rather than honest relationships, working to create impressions rather than friendships, working to achieve success in the workplace, rather than in the home. They are in denial about their lack of ethics or compassion for others. They seem woefully unaware of the consequences of their behavior. (The realtor had to know full well what she was doing when she handled the secret deal for Bernadette’s neighbor. She did what any cutthroat realtor would do. She represented the seller, however, and what she did was the precipitous cause of long term emotional pain for Bernadette.)They were all following a recipe for failure for someone or other, if not themselves.
Bernadette’s downward spiral begins when she has a row with an influential neighbor. Angry, she sells her crowning achievement and is devastated when it is purchased by someone, secretly acting for her nasty neighbor, who then destroys the building and her architectural legacy. Because of this petty feud, without anyone’s notice, she begins to recede from the business and social world.
She and Elgin move to Seattle where she purchases an old girl’s school to renovate. When she has difficulty conceiving a child, she declines further. When finally, her daughter Bala Krishna (divine child), better known as Bee, is born with a birth defect, she vows never to create another masterpiece if she can be cured. When she survives, she becomes obsessed with her vow to G-d and refuses to do anything else creative in her life, but she doesn’t share her reasons why, with anyone. She allows the house to sink into a decaying state of disrepair. She becomes more antisocial, complains about everyone, ridiculing them, and doesn’t like being around people. She does no work, participates in rare projects at Bee’s school and becomes rather reclusive. Her repartees with people are sarcastic which does not help her “make friends or influence people”.
At the same time as she recedes from the world, she is a warm and compassionate mother and a faithful wife, although a poor homemaker. She does not cook, takeout is the order of the day, and she retreats to a trailer on the property, more often than not. Bee calls it her Petit Trianon. When I read about Bernadette’s habit of knitting away as her projects were created, I thought of Madame Defarge, although I would not characterize Bernadette as a villain, but rather an eccentric with an incredibly creative mind who seems terribly misunderstood in her current state.
As Bernadette flounders, Elgin’s career soars and he is rarely home. He is a workaholic for Microsoft. He pads around in his stocking feet, makes presentations that are lauded by scholars worldwide and in general, seems lost in himself, naïve and a bit eccentric too. When his new admin, Sue Lin (a kind of universal gal Friday for his department, in charge of making all things run smoothly), a Galer private school “gnat”, an enemy of Bernadette’s, becomes involved in his private life, he also becomes tempted by the apple in Eve’s garden. Sue Lin is a good friend of Audrey, the Fox’s jealous neighbor, and the two of them tear Bernadette apart, daily, always looking for fodder for their nasty tongues and minds. Sue Lin has eyes for Elgin.
Bee, is exceptionally bright, mature and well adjusted. She respects her father, loves her mother and excuses all of their foibles good-naturedly. She is happily making plans to go to boarding school, eagerly looking forward to it, actually, and just wants them to take one family trip, to Antarctica before she leaves. Her mom finds it hard to make plans which involve “people” participation, but she and Elgin reluctantly agree.
Bernadette immediately uses her “personal secretary”, Manjula, a woman working in a call center in India, to take care of all of her purchases and appointments, unbeknownst to Elgin, who thinks she has come back to life, organizing and arranging the trip.
Soon everyone learns that it was a very poor idea indeed, to use Manjula, since she gave her all of their personal information, and although she seemed to make everything happen with ease and aplomb, the FBI informs the family that Manjula is involved in a criminal ring, stealing identities. Manjula was a well kept secret, but now, because Elgin has also taken his admin, the “gnat”, better known as parent, into his confidence, she gossips and instigates with her friend Audrey, Bernadettes jealous neighbor, attempting to develop a closer relationship with Elgin for herself.
Worried about Bernadette and the way she has declined, allowing their home to decay and not having normal social relationships, his concern increases when he finds out about Manjula, then about the terrible mudslide which was really Audrey’s fault, since she was the neighbor who insisted the blackberry vines holding the Fox’s hill together be removed for the school publicity brunch which was meant to attract upper class “Mercedes parents”, changing their image from second class “Subaru parents”, then about the accident in which she was falsely accused of running over Audrey’s foot, then her secret email to her friend Paul and her musings when she was depressed, thinking of ending it all, but not meaning it, he rushes to judgment and calls in a doctor to have her committed and convinces him to take her immediately to a hospital where she can be treated. The doctor, overly impressed with his own idea of himself, insists on an interview first but then intercedes when he finds out the FBI is involved in an investigation concerning them. Circumstantial evidence is making Bernadette seem a danger to herself and others, something she surely is not. Personalities, arrogance and self righteousness were the order of the day. Somehow, defying all odds, Bernadette escapes and disappears. Bee is devastated. Then, while at school, she receives an anonymous letter, everything that has happened, and she writes a book, discovered by her roommate (Bee is not doing that well socially, either), who immediately turns it over to the dean. She is dismissed from Choate, and in her anger, she devises a plan to search for her mom.
On every page, the reader will laugh at the caricature of real life that the author paints. The women are gossipy and petty, the men work-driven and possessed with the search for acclaim, all are in self-denial wanting the wrong things out of life, deceiving themselves and overlooking the important things they are giving up or losing. All of them are a bit larger than life in all of their reactions, and as the author draws them so cleverly, we might even laugh at ourselves, witnessing some of the silly little flaws in her characters, looming larger than life in ours.
Over reactions were the order of the day. Well drawn characters symbolizing the modern ills of society were not always likeable but always enjoyable to watch, as they performed, and yes, perform is really the active word here because they were all acting in one capacity or another, playing the role they thought appropriate, the role that society seemed to want of them. The only truly real character was Bee! She was herself always, honest, forgiving, filled with the joie de vivre, eager and bright, courageous in her convictions, experiencing love and sharing it with others.
That is what really makes this book remarkable. All of the events and characters are too frighteningly close to reality! They are all supersmart: over-achievers, social climbers, immature victims of themselves and their own behavior. Yet, they are too close to real life characters, showing little compassion for others in their climb up the ladder, engaging in petty rumors and gossip without regard to the pain and/or shame they inspire, turning a blind eye to the needs of anyone but themselves.
In the end, however, they all have aha moments of their selfish ways, and they repent or show remorse accordingly. However, this may be the weakest part of the story, or the fairytale version, since it all falls into place too neatly, becoming a bit tedious. It is as if the chess pieces were moved by someone else, and so, even the ending is an exaggeration, a caricature of reality.
The characters are charming, even with their fatal flaws, because eventually they realize how “evil” they have been. Infidelity is excused and forgiven, malicious behavior is explained away, erratic episodes are accepted and everyone is one big happy family again. It is a bit Pollyanna, but it is a pleasure to read. Bee, the divine child, lives up to her name!

Hilarious. Smart, funny, I loved it.

Bernadette\\\'s life is unusual at best, She and her family live in a crumbling old mansion in Seattle. Bernadette hates Seattle, and we hear about that often. Her husband is a highly respected employee at Microsoft, and his life revolves around his work. This means that their daughter Bee gets little attention from anyone. After a series of unfortunate (but very funny) events, Bernadette disappears. Bee takes it upon herself to follow the clues, and find her mother.
It\\\'s pretty hysterical and we all enjoyed it. There were also important topics to discuss--family relationships, neighborliness (hahahaha!), faithfulness. If you haven\\\'t already read this one, put it on your list!

I just could not get interested in this book at all. so I am probably a poor judge of the quality of the read. I just gave up after a few chapters of not being drawn in.

Refreshing, intriguing and fun. The characters are quirky and the story unexpected. Most enjoyable!

Everyone loved it. It was so much fun to read. It was hilarious.

The book seemed to appeal more to the people in our book club who had lived in Seattle. Most thought it was funny and a light read, a little avante-guarde and exaggerated, but not all that memorable. We didn\\\'t have all that much to discuss with this book, but some thought it captured the essence of the Microsoft mentality as it was first developing, impersonal and intellectual. Many people said they laughed out loud while reading the book.

Where\\\'d you go Bernadette, the title itself makes you wonder if Bernadette lost her mind or herself.......at first it is a little slow, but the second half picked up and the book became a page turner. All the members in our book club felt the same way about wanting to know how it was all going to end.

Quirky, fun, and a great summer read.

Just very enjoyable and thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Very easy, fun read. Great summer read

Started out painfully slow and tedious. Turned out into a very good book with great character development.

Difficult to understand the main character and that was the key to the whole book.
Great for Book Club because there were varried opinions of the book.

Witty and fast paced. Very funny - would make a good movie.

Boring. Slow. Not terrible, but just could not identify with the characters portrayed.

This was a funny, uplifting book about a mom who lost sight of who she was. It wasn't until you reach the end of the story, you see just how far she fell from what she once was and had hoped to accomplish. The best part of the story is that it teaches every mom who reads the book, it is never too late to pursue happiness!

I found this book entertaining and addictive to read. It was written somewhat in letter form, which can sometimes be distracting but the author made it work.

This was one of our groups favorite reads!

Very quick and fun read. But if a book club is looking for something that is really thought-provoking this isn't the book they should choose.

Great book! Couldn\\\'t put it down!

Definitely odd characters but I was interested enough to see it through. Some of those mothers in the book clearly could have been written about some of the mothers in my city. That's not a compliment, unfortunately!

Told from the point of view of 15 yr old Bee, this epistolary novel grabs your attention at the beginning and holds you until the end. Through a series of documents, Bee relates the unusual behavior of her mother which ultimately ends up resulting in her mother's disappearance.

This novel is chock-full of emotions. Anger, affection, humor, sadness...it has it all. The characters are well drawn and easy to connect with and it's just believable enough to feel like you might know these people...yet still crazy enough to keep it from being a boring family story. At times it was an "edge of your seat, gotta-know-what-happens next" mystery. At times it was a "I should re-read that paragraph because I can't believe Bernadette just said that" kind of of story. A comedy of errors with a touch of tenderness. Loved it!

Everyone agreed the book was a fun read, although some people were bothered by the format. I think this is the risk the writer took by being more experimental.

Great story, cleverly written with some twists to keep your interest throughout. I really enjoyed it.

This book, written in letters, emails, and documents was a fun read. I would recommend it if you are looking for something totally different.

It jumped around a lot. I didn't realize until our discussion that the author is more of a screen writer for tv shows.... made sense when I learned that.
Good to read if you have nothing else.

Unexpectedly laugh out loud funny! Loved the loyalty of her daughter even though B was so quirky.
I just couldn't put it down. I really cared about B in the end!!

This book is best for people who appreciate satire. In fact, it's hard for me to imagine you would enjoy it otherwise. It directly satirizes the Microsoft employee and Seattle upper middle class mentalities, and also takes a shot at East coast private schools, interventions, and more--all of which is quite humorous. I was also intrigued by the growth of the characters in this book and by the fresh look at how minor mental health issues can become major problems for an individual, her family, and her friends.

The story is well told, and offers interesting perspective on one's own life and how we cope and deal with day to day challenges.

Our book club was divided. Some thought it was brilliant while other\'s thought it was ridiculous. I found it humorous and very cheeky. I would not call this great literature but definitely a fun read.

well written, quick and easy read. I found myself laughing out loud multiple times while reading this book.

Funny! Most of our club members found this book to be hilarious. A few didn't appreciate the humor. You just have to suspend reality and go with the flow. Have a good time!

This book was so much fun to read. Club discussion was very in depth and absorbing. A real bonus was the insights that hit you at the end.

We had much discussion on the personality of each character and how they were related too by the other characters. We had a few questions about what happens to these relationships with each other in the end. Most all of the club members enjoyed the book.

I liked it. I found the moter to be most intersting and the father confusing, but that may be because I am from the 60\\\\\\\'s

eccentric characters (manic/bipolar); anxiety-ridden at times; very clever though!!!

Quirky

The beginning is hard to follow because it jumps right in but stick with it! Great story about growth, change, fears and architecture!

Book was very fast paced, confusing at times, some of the events were incredulous, but overall entertaining reading.

Most of this story is told via correspondence either written or electronic which made it a bit of challenge to get start but the story is well done and captures the attention. Worth the ride to the end.

This book has quirky characters. The story has a few surprises. Book not written in narrative. It was a lot of letters and e-mails that told the story.

This book was very entertaining. I loved how it was written entirely as a collection of e-mails, school flyers, police reports, etc. It was a light-hearted, fun beachy type of book. Definitely recommend!

It was a quirky story but I enjoyed it. I liked the characters and I think it was cleverly written.

I really enjoyed the book. It reminded me of how easily misunderstandings can have epic consequences.

this book is fun to read.. loved the jibes at helicopter moms and Microsoft.. read this for sheer entertainment..

Bernadette was once a brilliant architect, but some mysterious event caused her to buy an old rundown private school in Seattle and move there with her husband and daughter. With grand plans of restoring the old place into a beautiful home for her family, she has instead become mired in bitterness and weighted with regret and found herself living in a broken and crumbling building. However she is proud of her husband Elgie, although he may not always be clear on just how much he means to his wife, and Bernadette absolutely adores her daughter Bee, who is a truly bright child and charms everyone who knows her. Bernadette just seems to have lost her way a bit.

Elgie is a trailblazer working at Microsoft, but may be best known for a brilliant TED talk that he did. He's reached a point in his life when he begins to doubt his wife and her competency, thinking perhaps she's gone over the edge. Then there is Soo-Lin, his assistant at work, who has begun to express an interest in him and made him feel special, and made him question his wife and his life with her.

At the request of Bee, the family plans a trip to Antarctica, but just as things come to a boil-- just as Bernadette finds herself betrayed by her husband and as it seems that all the world has turned against her-- Bernadette disappears without a trace.

This book is an organized collection of letters, emails and recitations of conversations. It isn't clear until the end just where all of this documentation originated, but it was a very clever way to develop the story. It allows you to build one perspective, and then read an email from someone else, and later get yet a different perspective.

My final word: This was a book club selection, and I did enjoy it. It wasn't a real thrilling or gripping story, but it was clever and fresh and original. It is easy to read, has a cast of colorful characters, and I enjoyed the snippets that came from letters, newspaper articles, emails, etc. The dynamics between Bernadette and the other mothers from school, as well as the emails from “Emily” (the woman in charge of organizing the school functions that the parents are involved in), all made me very happy to not have kids! This is definitely a worthwhile read.

Bernadette by herself is probably enough to stimulate an hour's worth of conversation. The humor really appealed to everyone, and many appreciated how real the dark side of the humor was. I also think the format in which the story was told was intriguing to a lot of the group members (told through documents collected by Bee).

This is a very funny book at times, but ultimately seemed too frivolous to make it a worthwhile read. The scenarios were too bizarre and unrealistic for me. Also the literary devices used in writing the book resulted in it being very confusing to follow the story.

Funny, quirky, but very entertaining. Laughable and light reading.
I guess there ARE actually people who live this way!

This isn't an easy book to describe without giving too much away. So, my best description is quirky.

A laugh-out-loud satire that examines the links between mother and daughter, husband and wife. I thoroughly enjoyed the style and Bee's voice was the perfect one for this story with both mystery and love.

Well written in a unique style, interesting characters, good content for book club discussion.

Different format that made it difficult to know the characters or understand why certain events happened.

Some members thought the book was a waste of time while some appreciated the humor and satire. It made for a good discussion.

Bernadette is an award winning architect who tries to withdraw from the world and unfortunately includes her daughter and husband in the withdrawal. She doesn't volunteer as classroom mother, she doesn't go out to shop, including for a planned trip to Antarctica. Too many adults acting like children and a child who seems the most adult. Still quirky and amusing despite everything that happens. Found myself shaking my head. A lot.

I loved the tongue-in-cheek humor Ms. Semple used to poke at political correctness. The characters might be overly exaggerated, but it was easy to identify with the helicopter mother, over-achieving assistant, workaholic father, gifted daughter, etc. I found parts of the story to be laugh-out-loud funny. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but I found this to be a fast-paced and enjoyable read even after the third reading.

This book is a complete waste of time told in a juvenile tone uttering insulting stereotypes. I can't think of one redeeming take-away from this book.

I was looking forward to a treatise about the private school life in Seattle and an interesting mystery when one of the Moms decides to go AWOL - as most Moms have fantasized once or twice on a difficult parenting day. But I didn't enjoy any of the sycophant characters or their silly experiences (running over someone's foot with the car? Really?) When they got to Antarctica I really stopped caring and started skimming pages until Bernadette was found and then had a good cry...when I thought of all the time I'd wasted reading this book!

Not my type of book!

We selected a lighter read for our summer reading. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Interesting social commentary. Fun, light read.

Fun book with qwerky characters. I liked how the characters gained insight and changed.

It’s an amazing, inspiring book! The book reinforces the society’s coldness to introverts and personal people. The satire on Seattle and MS from a Seattlellite’s eye is fun to read and refreshing. Genius and crazy goes hand in hand, though the conviction reflected in Bernadette’s personality is awe-inspiring and energizing.

Burnadette was a fun but fluffy book that followed the life of a woman to Antarctica. Easy read that lacked depth. Fun summer book.

This was a super fun book- full shenanigans!