Goodreads Choice Award nominee
I must confess: When I started this audiobook, I got as far as about 26% and DNF’d it. It wasn’t until book club was looming that I realized I’d DNF’d the monthly read. I have gotten to the point that I don’t like to waste much time on a book I’m not enjoying and I wasn’t enjoying this one.
To say this was a quirky read would probably be an understatement. I’m not sure if it was the format, but I really didn’t care for the characters and Bernadette was a bit too far out for me. Her fifteen-year-old daughter, Bee, might have been the most sane of the household and she is fiercely devoted to her mother. Huh?
Bernadette moved with her family to Seattle where she is totally out of her element. An architect, she’s into some pretty eclectic stuff. I’m not at all sure she is a misplaced genius or already so far around the bend that her sudden disappearance should have caused so much as a ripple in her universe.
Still, she is also pretty devoted to her daughter and promised Bee that a straight A report card would grant her her fondest wish. But Bee’s sudden explosion of her own genius idea is a family trip to Antarctica. And she achieved that goal. The report card that is.
Bee is a fifteen-year-old, but her POV clearly reads younger to me. Maybe it is the world that revolved around this family, as I had a problem with most support characters as well. And just forget Bernadette’s husband.
So, wait a minute. What made this a Goodreads Choice Award nominee? The book club attendees were as sharply divided as I. There might have been some lighter moments in there, a satirical sense of humor, but not for me.
I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. Didn’t particularly like the characters and much of it stretched disbelief. This book just wasn’t for me.
Many thanks to our local well stocked library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own as well as my interpretation of the consensus of the book club participants.
The book provided many a lively discussion, often getting off topic, and with negatives often leading as well as positives. A number of the questions provided a deep dive into the possible reason that the storyline included excessively long and detailed communications between characters. Interesting that the moderator had watched the movie and highly recommended the movie as having hit all the highlights that would interest the reader while skipping the minutiae.
Items specifically examined were:
► Why is the story told by Bee, the daughter? Pretty much the only sane one in the group.
► What are the thoughts on Bernadette’s character. She’s definitely an independent creative, but perhaps her Twenty-Mile House was a bit too eccentric even for her.
► What finally sent Bernadette over the edge? Definitely the house. To put that much thought and time in it only to have it destroyed provided the final straw.
► Which character is most transformed? Audrey.
► Bernadette always acted as the outsider. Was she, and if so, who was responsible? She was definitely a non-conforming outsider.
I was gratified that on the whole many of the readers in the group found the book a bit outside their usual taste and had more than a few problems with the format. Definitely an unusual book with the ending feeling somewhat rushed and that left a few threads hanging.
Book Details:
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Narrator: Kathleen Wilhoite
Publication Date: August 14, 2012
Title Link(s):
Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
The Author: Maria Semple is the author of THIS ONE IS MINE, WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE and TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT. Her work has been translated into over twenty-five languages. Before turning to fiction, she wrote for the television shows Arrested Development, Ellen and Mad About You. She lives in Seattle.
©2026 V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 
I’ve had this book on my shelf for years (after it was hyped up). I think it’s time it went to the charity shop based on your review – and my own misgivings.
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