Monday, August 5, 2013

Book Review - Where'd You Go Bernadette

by Maria Semple

Where'd You Go, Bernadette has been extensively reviewed by dozens of book critics for newspapers and magazines, as well as almost 1200 readers  and others on Amazon.  In characterizing the book, reviewers and critics have described it as, "utterly delightful, inventive, quirky, fresh, smart, intelligent, zany, witty, comic satire, and crazy."  My favorite descriptions include adverbs such as divinely, achingly, outrageously, scathingly, charmingly, and wickedly FUNNY.  Yes, the author, Maria Semple, is a creative and gifted writer, but I didn't find this book all that funny.   I know, I'm not in the same age group as most of you (them) and that probably has something to do with it.

This book uses emails, letters, faxes, bills, reports, and almost any form of written information and/or communication to develop the plot and move the story forward.  I admit, I read the first section rather casually.  Later, when I picked up my Kindle to continue, I had to read the whole section again as I was unable to place all the characters. 

The problem with this style of narrative is that the emails, letters, etc. have the same voice (the author's) despite (in the book) being written by different characters.  It's hard for an author to write letters to a daughter from her mother or emails between friends and be able to define their personalities in a different narrative voice.  All sound like the same person.  And, as I read most of the lengthy correspondence, it struck me as "stream of consciousness writing"―meaning anything that comes to mind (I call it ranting and raving about unconnected things).  Semple obviously has a talent for writing this way with wit and sarcasm, although stream of consciousness can get tedious.

The main characters are Bernadette and Elgin Branch and their 14-15 year old daughter, Bee―named Balakrishna at birth by her mother.  The setting is Seattle where Microsoft rules.  Despite the community of geniuses and money,  Bernadette believes  it is a city of nerds and other mostly stupid and small-minded people. 

Twenty years ago Bernadette won the MacArthur genius award for architecture when she designed and built a house in Los Angeles called the Twenty-Mile House using only the materials that could be found no more than twenty miles from the building site.  After it was completed and sold she was traumatized by what happened to it. 

Now, she hates living in Seattle and has pretty much withdrawn from life.  Luckily she hires a person in India, Manjula Kapoor, for 75 cents an hour, to take care of everything for her via email.  However, a virtual person is not always what they seem.   Bernadette's  behavior gets so strange that either she has Asberger's syndrome (my diagnosis) or is believed to be mentally unstable. 

Elgin is also extremely gifted and engrossed in his work as a VP for Microsoft.  While living in Los Angeles, his computer animation company was bought by Microsoft and they moved to Seattle.  Elgin's company is the highest priority at Microsoft and he is "team leader" to 250 employees working on a project called Samantha 2.  His new admin, Soo-Lin Lee-Segal,  is a single, divorced mother with two children in the same school as Bee.  She participates in a Victims Against Victimhood group that she writes about in her emails.

Bee was born with a heart defect that required several  years of treatment and many operations when she was a baby.  Bernadette stayed with her at the hospital during all that time.  Now,  Bee is an eighth grader at the private Galer Street School where she is an all A student.  She also scores high in "grit and poise" according to school tests.  She is smart, fun,  and understanding of all her mother's quirks and antics.  When her mother disappears, Bee is convinced Bernadette will be found as she knows her mother would not permanently leave her. 

Other correspondents in the story include Audrey Griffin, a close neighbor,  and the mother of a boy in Bee's class at Galer.   Audrey and Soo-Lin (Elgin's admin) are friends.  Their emails and other actions involve events that affect the whole Branch family.

The trip to Antarctica is the most interesting and also painful part of the story.  Bee chose the trip because they were studying it in school.  It was her reward for getting all A's.  The descriptions of the water, the icebergs, the land, the cold weather, the whales, seals and penguins are great.  It is the trip that concludes the story, but the ending is unknown.  Why do current authors leave their readers with so many unanswered questions?   I guess It's like writing a book review; they don't want to reveal too much information, or maybe they just don't know.  

Monday, July 22, 2013

Book Review--

While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

By Wendy Wax

First, this book doesn't have a lot to do with Downton Abbey;  second, it reads like a book just begging for a sequel (which is OK with me).   After both of my sisters read the book, I knew I had to read it too, and I was not sorry.  Wendy Wax is a good writer and keeps the reader interested and involved in the lives of three women (and others) who have decided to participate in watching the weekly screenings on Sunday evening of the British television series, Downton Abbey.

The setting is interesting.  I have never explored Atlanta, but was intrigued enough by the location to want to.  It all takes place in a large, mid-town apartment building called the Alexander.  The building, remodeled in the Beaux Arts style, is a trendy and desirable place for up-scale but diverse tenants.

The Alexander has contracted with a new company called Private Butler whose owner is a 50ish Englishman, Edward Parker.  He is also the concierge in the building.  He believes and follows a moral code of total discretion in serving his residents.  His family legacy in England was "in service" at Montclaire Castle where his grandfather began teaching Edward the practice of discretion when he was only 10 years old.
 
Edward realizes that he and the tenants don't know one another and because he is a little homesick, he decides screening seasons one and two of the wildly popular series, Downton Abbey, is just the catalyst needed for a getting-to-know you activity.  Indeed, an unlikely friendship is one result between three attendees; Samantha Davis, Claire Walker, and Brooke Mackenzie, as they sip shandies (lager and lemonade) and partake of before and "afters," including authentic English pastries, tarts and trifles.

Samantha married Jonathan Davis twenty-five years ago when she was 21 and he was 27.   Before they were married, her father embezzled from the law firm founded by Jonathan's father to pay his gambling debts.  However,  both her mother and father were killed in a car accident leaving Samantha to care for two younger siblings.  Under the circumstances, she was surprised Jonathan wanted to marry her and help raise her brother, Hunter, and her sister, Meredith.  She and Jonathan never had children of their own but Jonathan has always been  generous to a fault and supportive of her brother and sister.

Samantha appears to be perfect.  She dresses impeccably, is always perfectly coiffed, and ready to please Jonathan.  Even though she is married to a successful (rich) attorney who treats her with affection and respect, she wonders if he really loves her and if he married her only because he felt sorry for her.  Samantha definitely needs to figure this out.  With the help of Brooke and Claire, she finally finds the answer.  (I don't think the author knows much about marriage or she wouldn't have developed this fake story line.  In the book, Jonathan did everything to show Samantha he loved her, yet she couldn't see it?  I'm sorry, no!)

Brooke Mackenzie is a divorced mother of two girls.  She worked three jobs to put her ex-husband, Zachary, through medical school and residency in plastic surgery (a long, hard haul).  Brooke has curly red hair and a less than perfect body, but she refused to let her ex work on her.  Brooke could never please Zachary and he constantly puts her down. The marriage broke up when Zachary becomes involved with one of his patients that Brook calls Barbie.  Edward (the concierge) engages her in his Private Butler business working with a single father which leads to new confidence and the possibility of a new beginning.

Finally, Claire Walker.  She is a single, long-divorced mother whose daughter has just gone off to Chicago to attend college.  While still working, Claire authored two moderately successful romantic novels set in Scotland in the 1700's.  Now, she sold her house in the suburbs and moved into a small apartment in the Alexander where she plans to spend the next year concentrating on writing her "best seller."  The trouble is, she has a bad case of writer's block that she can't seem to cure.  And, she worries that her money will run out before her words start to flow again.  When she gets involved in the friendship with Samantha and Brooke, she begins to see that she might be finished with Scotland in the 1700's.  Moving on to new times and characters seems to be the answer.

A good book always includes characters who grow and change. While We Were Watching is a great example of that.  Friendship leads to confession, that leads to recognition, change, love, success, new attitudes and new thinking.  Be watching for the sequel that is sure to come!