Book Club, at FBCLibrary.

12/7/19

The group discussed ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ by Maria Semple.

There were mixed feelings about this book – although the epistolary structure was a

different approach to novel writing and didn’t take too long to get into the narrative,

the group found a lot of the content far fetched. Perhaps this was because it was

supposed to be funny, but unfortunately the humour was lost on us – perhaps it got

lost in translation (it’s set in Seattle, and Semple is American) and sadly left us

indifferent. There were also some loose ends left that were unsatisfying, and some of

the emails that made up the fabric of the story were conveniently and unrealistically

expositional, written in a style that was inauthentic.

Overall we found it an easy read book; a suitable “summer read”. A couple of us

liked it but still found it forgettable. However the descriptions of Antarctica were quite

beautiful, and we felt we had learned about that part of the world. Although the main

character was difficult to like, we found the relationship between her and her

daughter genuine and touching, as were the first person passages of the teenage

Bee. So we thought Semple wrote well. But maybe one had to be a fan of ‘Ellen’ or

‘Arrested Development’ (Semple has written for these shows amongst others) to fully

appreciate the novel, or perhaps it would come into its own on the screen as a

comedy of manners, being that the author is a television writer whose words maybe

only really spring to life coming from the right mouths. Some of the complexity of the

events of the story might certainly better be served visually, particularly the

intervention scene for example, where multiple scenes simultaneously play out.

Apparently there is to be a movie adaptation released in August, directed by Richard

Linklater, so expect great things!

Either way, we can certainly relate to the words of the author when she says, as she

has in the past: “the one constant in my life has been my love of books: reading

them, thinking about them, talking about them, holding them, turning people on to

new ones.” That is what the book club is all about: no matter what is happening in

our lives, we can seek solace and inspiration from books, and share them at book

club.

Anyway, we must be in the minority being unmoved by this book; it spent a year on

the New York Times bestseller list! It also won an Alex award (for books written for

adults that have a special appeal for young adults) and was shortlisted for the

Women’s Prize for Fiction.

In the coming month we are reading ‘The Kitchen House’ by Kathleen Grissom.

Pick up a copy at the desk if you wish to join us. We will meet again on Friday 23 rd

August at 11am.

H Daugherty

•                                                                                                                  edited 25-July