We will discuss Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette at our meeting on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 4:15p.m. in the GAHS library. Please post questions, comments, concerns, criticism, and the like on this blog prior to, during, or after our meeting (before June 4th if you want grade-replacement credit). All questions and responses should indicate an active reading of the text and function to move the conversation forward. (Note: surface-level or obvious questions and responses will not count as participation for grade replacement.)
Those of you unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts may participate in the discussion below by posting a discussion question and offering a detailed response, or by responding to two questions already posted. The note above applies here as well, so heed it!
Overall, this was a fun, humorous read. The best part about the book was how it was composed of emails, letters, and other documents in order to tell the story of Bee Branch’s search for her missing mother, Bernadette. Within these sources, many allusions were made by the author; the biggest one that stuck out was a TEDTalk reference, since the center students just finished the last round of their own. By including these references, the audience was able to connect with the moment better, as well as understand Semple’s humor better. Also by creating the novel in this format, I was intrigued to keep reading because it seemed like such a quick, engaging read with a constant comical tone. In addition, the plot overall made the book more entertaining because in books the mother is stereo-typically the one to always need to care for their child, but here Bee has to keep up with her mom and attempt at finding her.
(I wasn’t finished)
A huge moral of the story that I finally caught on to after reading the novel was the idea that we are all flawed, but we can all achieve what we set our minds to if approached in the right way. In the situation of this book, the main characters didn’t approach their situations in the most logical ways (like moving to a different continent to escape issues), but it did add to the humor. The comedy within the book, I believe, was added to show how absurd some people deal with their situations. I walked away from this read with the perspective that we will all face issues in our lives, but the mindset you approach the problem with is what defines you and what directly impacts the outcome.
“Where’d you go, Bernadette” incorporated a cultivation of various themes that revolved around a girl named Bee trying to find her lost mother, Bernadette Fox, who lived a life in the city, which she despised, and who also has a seemingly disturbing past. Out of the several themes present in the book, the one theme I thought was very prominent was the theme of relationships. The theme of relationships in this book are subcategorized in my mind, into family and friend relationships. Friend relationships are highly touched on in this novel due to Bee’s one true friend, Kennedy. In my opinion, in terms of relationships, Bee’s friendships and Bernadette’s friendships are higly juxtaposed, because Bee has the ability to make sentimental relationships, and Bernadette on the other hand, is not able to make friendships due to her “weird and crazy” personality. Bernadette is also closed highly off to the world, preferring to remain enclosed in her mysterious world. In my opinion Bee was once again juxtaposed, because the audience can see how the curious, and inquisitive personality of Bee differs from Bernadette’s mysterious and enclosed character. What are themes do you see present in “Where’d you go Bernadette?”
Where’d You Go Bernadette is such a fun-loving book that is hysterically good. I really enjoyed the style of writing that the book displayed. Emails, documents, and letters just make the reading so much more exciting to read possibly because it’s just easier to read. It’s not even just emails to one person but emails from different people to different people. You could read an email from Bernadette to Manjula in a nonformal but polite tone compared to an email between Audrey Griffin and Soolin Lee ranting about Bernadette and her so-called reckless decision to run over Audrey’s foot. The constant change and adjustments to different perspectives made me want to continue reading and kept me on the very ends of my toes. In addition, I liked how the letters/documents all correlated to Bee’s favor in her adventure to find her mom. Bee is specifically thought out as a different person from the start so you’re initial reaction is that if anyone could find Bernadette, it’d be her even though she is very young. I think the intro of showing her report cards foreshadows that Bee has unbelievable talents for her age. Bernadette has all these people that despise her but she ironically was the one that I found to love. I feel like she’s symbolic to a rose for she is good at heart but she has her thorns because she definitely has her own psychological problems. As a discussion question, I’d like to hear what particular factors do you think caused Bee’s parents’ marriage to sway?
An answer to your question… I feel like one particular factor that caused Bee’s parents marriage to sway was due to Bernadette herself. As Bee narrates, her mother had sort of an inability to form relationships with many people, due to her mysterious past and enclosed personality. I feel that this personality of Bernadette made it difficult to form sentimental relationships, which could have then been a clash in the marriage with Bee’s father.
Some of the funniest interchanges in the story take place via emails between Audrey Griffin and Soo-Lin Lee-Segal, two Galer Street School moms who are obsessed with wacky, elusive Bernadette Fox. Audrey is a social-climbing wanna-be, who is up-tight, conceited, and pretends to be oblivious to the short-comings of her own juvenile delinquent son, Kyle. Her emails to Soo-Lin are so outrageous (accusing Bernadette of running over her foot on purpose in the car-pool line) that they are truly comical.
Why do you think it was important to the story to include a character like Audrey Griffin? How does her character enrich the book?
It seems that Audrey’s character, who acts totally crazy at times, forces us to see Bernadette in a more sympathetic way. When reading this book, one can’t help but think Bernadette is nut. She is reclusive, hates the Seattle scene and the “gnat” moms from Galer Street School, and made her home in a decrepit old school with leaky roof problems and plants growing up through the floor-boards. She hardly leaves the house and hires an “assistant” from India (who turns out to be in a Russian crime ring) to take care of all aspects of her life. By contrasting Audrey and her over-the-top antics with Bernadette, we somehow see Bernadette as more of a heroine and Audrey as a villain. It is interesting to note that the major redemptive moment in this book is when Audrey, who has become a Christian and apologizes for all the trouble she has caused Bernadette, actually “rescues” Bernadette from being committed to a mental health clinic.
“Where’d You Go Bernadette” was different in the way that because the first half of the book was focused on letters, e-mails, etc. the majority of characters were seen on a surface level. No one (except maybe Bernadette) was given any real identity except the one behind the computer screen. It was due to this my hatred of the Mercedes Moms and my sympathy towards Bernadette grew. Especially because half the book consisted of letters everyone put up their best front, true morals and intentions were seen later when the book was narrated by Bee. I still hated Soo-Lin (I hated her with a PASSION), but gained respect for Audrey. I see a lot of people commenting on how Bee might have been “damaged” because of Bernadette’s behavior. However, the way I see it, Bernadette was probably one of the reasons Bee was so smart and overall a incredible person. Due to her medical condition when she was younger, having someone different and alienated like Bernadette as a mom would have helped her cope with the differences Bee would have had during her early childhood. She would have someone who has things in common with her. Furthermore, Bernadette’s different way of thinking would encourage Bee to do the same, not think like all the other kids. If anything the complicated relationship between her mother and father was more damaging. Not just Bernadette, but Elgin as well. Elgin in the past years apparently hadn’t even been with the family much due to his job. After Bernadette went missing, Soo-Lin’s pregnancy and boarding school with the closing of Bernadette’s disappearance would have traumatized her more. Elgin didn’t know how to interact with Bee as well as Bernadette did, so in this case I feel Bernadette wouldn’t have been a negative influence towards Bee.
I really enjoyed reading such a humorous and lighthearted book. It was so engaging and entertaining because of the comical tone. This book was appealing to me because the style was unique and unlike any other book I have read. The compilation of emails, letters, and dialogue between the characters gave the novel a more casual tone as well. I think that the emails and letters provided me with more insight on the opinions, obstacles, and emotions faced by each character, broadening my understanding of the story as a whole. The different letters and emails gave little bits of information from different sides sporadically, but after a while it made the entire story weave together, creating a more cohesive plot. It helped me to gain an understanding of the story from various perspectives, rather than just from Bernadette’s point of view. Overall, the distinct style of Where’d You Go, Bernadette is what made the book most enjoyable and interesting for me.
This book was really funny! I think a large part of the humor can be attributed to the frequent references to popular cultural and present-day concepts that people of or around our age have easily heard of and can understand, like “Chihuly,” “See’s Candy,” Microsoft vs. Apple, Subarus and Mercedes (Ollie-O was probably my favorite character), “TEDTalks,” Xanax and Vicodin, and many more allusions to concepts of our time period. Of course, much of the humor, as well, can be attributed to Semple’s skillful use of language. But it makes me wonder, if someone from the 20th century were to read this book, would the glean as much humor from it as someone from our time would? In my opinion, not nearly, as many of the jokes would fly over his or her head simply because such things would have been nonexistent. I can see why this novel is well-liked now, but I wonder if this book will remain popular in the future, depending on how our popular culture continues to change.
Overall, I found the book fun to read as it had lots of engaging twists and turns and the humor kept my interest afloat. Yet, towards the end, I was becoming a little frustrated with the characters, like Bee, for turning against her father and being irritating in general, and the plot was beginning to seem a little exhaustive for me. Semple’s style, though, was definitely offbeat and intriguing, as it sort of makes the reader feel a bit like a detective that doesn’t have to do too much work, as all of the correspondence and anecdotes are presented logically, allowing the humor and plot to flow naturally.
I found the relevant references to American culture to be extremely engaging and almost relatable at times. Semple’s references to Big Brother, Microsoft, and PF Chang’s made the novel more appealing because I had been exposed to those examples prior to reading. Because I could recognize the references at hand, it gave me a deeper appreciation for the jokes or points Semple was trying to make. Many of the books we read in school include allusions to events occurring in past decades, so this was nice to finally be able to connect the references to my personal life.
I definitely think that this book would receive less appreciation in the future or from past generations because the connections to popular culture would not apply to them. It is the references to our present culture that make the book engaging, so without that aspect, the book would be lacking one of its greatest qualities.
The novel “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” can be described as insightful, realistic, but mostly humorous. While we read about the twists and turns of the life of Bernadette, we can’t help but question our own character. Different groups of people viewed Bernadette in different ways. School mothers find her troubling, her fellow co-workers find her brilliant, her husband finds her gifted, yes noticed that she is dealing with a few demons, and her daughter just sees her as her loving mother. When reading this book, I couldn’t help but wonder: Do people think of me the same way? Is this what could happen to me if I put my career before my family and loved ones?
I think Maria’s purpose for writing this novel was to highlight the flaws of people. We see Bernadette running away from her problems and going to a whole different continent and Semple uses this to show what NOT to do in troubling times in our lives. We can either face our demons or we can let them chase us away.
While reading this book, I found myself relating mostly to Bee’s character. The book clearly highlights their relationship and shows that a mother/daughter relationship is stronger than people think. Bee didn’t give up looking for her mother after she ran away, which is something I would do if I were in her shoes. Bee’s character is a symbol of hope, some thing Bernadette had been lacking for a very long time.
I found your response the most interesting because the moral you walked away with was similar to mine; I think that this book, although I didn’t catch on to it during the read, really was ridden as a satire, poking fun at people who cannot cope or deal with their own problems in logical ways.
I never thought about your last point- Bee being a symbol for hope. That’s an interesting claim, because I would have never picked up on that. After your explanation though, I clearly see that Bee genuinely cares for her mother (which it doesn’t come off like that at first) and that by Bee being “hope”, she is going to find her mom and bring hope and inspiration to their situation. This goes back to the moral that if approach correctly, you can directly, positively impact yourself and others.
How do you think Bernadette’s many behavioral issues will effect her daughter, Bee, as she grows up and becomes her own person?
I feel that Bee will be wiser because of it. Yes, her mother’s behavior could slightly damage Bee in the future, but Bee will know what to do if she ever found her self in her mother’s shoes. Bee seems stronger than Bernadette, so I think Bee will grow up to be relatively normal.
I think to answer this question I’d have to consider how her mother’s behavior issues have affected Bee already and how that might change in the future. I felt sorry for Bee after I learned how horrible the condition of the Straight Gate House was and that she had to grow up in such an unkempt house that had a disturbing past. The condition of the house can be blamed largely on Bernadette, but as for how it affected Bee, maybe because she had never known anything different, it didn’t bother her as much as it should have. But in terms of how her mother acted, with all of the ranting about small irritating details, this might have been annoying for Bee to put up with, and her mother even acknowledges this in her letter at the very end of the novel, “I know how bad it must have been for you, Bee, all those years, strapped in the car, hostage to my careening moods.” If Elgin couldn’t put up with it anymore, I’d imagine it was hard for Bee.
But now when I think of how Bee will grow up now after the whole fiasco is done, I think she will be a much stronger person. She has encountered immense stress with the disappearance of her mother, but through the experience she came to understand her father and her mother much more deeply than before, and she also came to understand her own roots and the struggles her parents faced. I feel that now that Bee and Elgin finally found Bernadette and Bernadette has had this time away to reflect on herself, Bernadette’s issues will begin to go away and Bee won’t have to withstand them much longer, but even if she does, she will be able to handle it because she has already had so much experience dealing with it in her childhood.
Bernadette was not very social. She stayed at home and away from people. However, Bee volunteered in school activities and is much more outgoing/social than her mother. Clearly those particular behavioral issues didn’t affect Bee. Also, Bernadette cherished her mom, despite her issues. Maybe her mom’s behavior has made Bee more accepting of others.
From the details of Bee Branch proposing to her parents a trip to Antarctica, to the Bernadette’s agoraphobic fear of leaving her house, I found Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette to be a captivating and comical read. The way that Semple illustrates the story-line through a variation of emails, letters, and documents captivates the reader’s attention and allows the reader to learn personal information about the main characters that may not have been as easily depicted in a regular fictional novel. While reading a letter from Bernadette to Manjula, I found the statement “the things you learn from eighth graders to when you ask rhetorical questions like, What are doing in school these days?” to be humorous and surprising due to most children’s answer to that question being the stereotypical “nothing” or “I can’t remember.” Semple’s descriptions of Bernadette’s agoraphobia and her communication with her psychiatrist prompted me to reflect on my knowledge from AP Psychology and the many different phobias people can be diagnosed with. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel and I would recommend it for anyone who is looking for a creative novel filled with plot twists and peculiar characters.
I agree that the emails and letters gives the reader more personal information about the main characters; however, I found the writer’s organization of the book to be sometimes hard to follow. I found myself losing track of what was going on.
Where’d You Go Bernadette was a truly eye opening book in the sense that it showed how someone’s background is not always what you would assume based on their current day persona. Bernadette was one of the most prominent architects of her time yet anyone who knew her in Seattle immediately felt as though she were a lazy, depressed, and overall strange woman. Without knowing the in’s and out’s of what makes her who she is, no one can rightly judge her character or come to conclusions on her history.
This speaks volumes on today’s society by explaining the way the human mind will always make snap-judgments on others. Seeing someone homeless, we assume they made poor choices, potentially getting into drugs and alcohol; when face to face with a war veteran, we find ourselves fantasizing of their heroic efforts and believing they could do no wrong. As a group, we must rid ourselves of stereotypes in order to open our minds to the usefulness of the vast possibilities of other’s personalities and traits.