I Read a Lot of Books

I tend to read a lot of non fiction, so I am inevitably behind on good fiction reads. This was recommended to me via a social media request by several of my trusted reader friends and it did not disappoint. I laughed. I cried. I cringed. I hated everyone and loved them all at the same time. In this outrageous book, there were some fundamental grains of truth reflected that make it much more than a simple beach read, though it is a quick read.

The book begins with the information that someone (spoiler, Bernadette) disappeared two days before Christmas without a word to anyone. Leading up to the disappearance,  Bernadette exchanged a series of emails/memos/texts with various people in her orbit. Most of the correspondence is peripherally about Bernadette’s daughter Bee. Bee is a well liked, well behaved, sort of girl who takes care of herself and looks after those around her. She is by no means an angel, but the correspondence show that she is doing her best with a mother who is troubled at best, and crazy at worst. I; however, couldn’t help but love Bernadette. She might be more comfortable at home doing fruitless projects than out and about, but her emails to those in her life paint a hilarious woman. For getting good grades Bee wants to take a family trip to Antartica which is a problem considering that Bernadette doesn’t want to leave her house, ever, if possible. She has been using the services of an off site assistant who lives in India, and their exchanges are where the reader begins to see what Bernadette’s life in Seattle is like. Bernadette is unhappy. Between disputes with neighbors over yard work and disputes with other parents at her daughter’s school about everything else, things haven’t been good. More to the point, they paint Bernadette as a mental case, which she is clearly not. Add in a troubled marriage, and you have a recipe for a woman who might want to get away from everything. When Bernadette disappears, her daughter Bee begins searching and discovers things about Bernadette’s past that she didn’t know.

I won’t ruin the end for you, but I laughed and ugly cried.**Fun insert, it has been over a year since I read this book… yes, there is a bit of lag time between reading and reviewing a book. As I was quickly skimming to remind myself of plot details, I began ugly crying all over again. My husband chose that moment to pop into the room and he immediately began laughing because he knew what was up. He thinks I should insert a picture of myself with red nose and tear stained face as I write this review so you too can behold the glory. I refused. I need to maintain some dignity.**  This book at its core is more a story about who we are as people, who we have been, and how we can recover when we’ve faced the inevitable disappointments that life throws our way. It is also a book about the love that we can have for one another despite our quirks and imperfections. The relationships in the book are rich, and fluid, and while fantastic in a fiction sense, there is a lot of truth.

I’ve only read a few books that follow a letter/narration type format and I can see points where in Semple’s narrative comes across as a bit sloppy. I loved the book enough that it didn’t detract from the overall story she was telling, but other readers might not be so forgiving. This is a fun one that I’d recommend for anyone who isn’t looking for something serious, but wants a bit of substance to their fiction.