Where'd You Go, Bernadette? By Maria Semple

Date: August 14, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Pages: 336
Genre: Adult fiction, humor, women's fiction
ISBN: 978-0316204262
Rating: 5/5

Bernadette Fox is a mother to a gifted daughter, Bee, and a wife to a Microsoft employee. Her family has relocated to rainy Seattle and she is trying to make a new life for her family, but mostly for herself. This book is full of wit, humor, and social commentary on American culture. Bernadette says what we all think, and the consequences are often hilarious.

This book is written in an interesting way. There are no chapters, but the book is divided in about three parts. The perspectives vary and it includes Bernadette, Bee, Bernadette's husband, and also multimedia sources such as emails, newspaper clippings, reports, etc. I thought it was interesting that Semple chose to use different forms of communication in order to communicate to us the problems of American society, especially given that Bernadette is a bit of an awkward recluse herself.

This book is just filled with drama and people I would hate to meet in real life - yet, somehow it works as an addicting and enjoyable read. All the drama snowballs on poor Bernadette and her family, and the outcome is hilarious and touching. This is the type of book that, despite being filled with annoying people, you put it down feeling content and happy. It isn't all drama - there is an engaging plot that revolves around our inability to really see or know people for who they are, behind the facade of society.

To emphasize, this book is filled with drama but it is also incredibly insightful in the problems of American society. I think that a wide audience can enjoy this book, so I would suggest it for anyone!

No Hope for Gomez!

No Hope for Gomez! by Graham Parke

188 Pages

Published by Outskirts Press, January 2010

Description:

It's the age-old tale:

Boy meets girl. 
Boy stalks girl. 
Girl already has a stalker. 
Boy becomes her stalker-stalker.

We've seen it all before, many times, but this time it's different. If only slightly.

When Gomez Porter becomes a test subject in an experimental drug trial, he is asked to keep track of any strange experiences through a blog. What Gomez isn't ready for, is so many of his experiences suddenly seeming strange; the antiques dealer trying to buy his old tax papers, the phone-sex salesman who hounds him day and night, the super sexy research assistant who falls for him but is unable to express herself in terms outside the realm of science.

But when one of the trial participants turns up dead and another goes missing, Gomez begins to fear for his life. No longer sure who he can trust and which of his experiences are real and which merely drug induced delusions, he decides it's time to go underground and work out a devious plan.

Now, years later, his blogs have been recovered from a defunct server. For the first time we can find out firsthand what happened to Gomez as he takes us on a wild ride of discovery. - From Amazon.ca

My Review:
Rating: 3/5
*Note* This book was sent to me to review honestly from the author.


This book is described as being "humourous" which is a genre I haven't specifically tried before. I was a bit nervous, because my sense of humour is a bit dark (e.g. I find Stephen King to be hilarious). The type of humour in this book is quirky - and luckily that is something I liked!

Gomez works at an antique store and becomes a participant in a drug trial for some extra cash. During the trial, someone dies and the book takes on a semi-mysterious edge. In addition, he falls in love with his doctor and starts the stalking of the doctor's stalker.

I thought Gomez' character was really quirky. Actually, all of the characters were a little bit quirky. Gomez makes some rational and irrational decisions, which makes him unpredictable but also difficult to connect with. Once I gave up trying to connect with Gomez, I got more enjoyment out of the story. The characters are the strongest aspects of the book because they are just so weird, but also realistic. His neighbour keeps trying to paw off manuscripts to Gomez to read and critique, but they are terrible. How do you step around a person like that, one that bombards you at the elevator and drills holes in your floor (his ceiling)? These characters are so wacky that you can't help but laugh.

The plot was a bit slow to start and then suddenly everything happened in the last 50 or so pages. So it took me awhile to get into because the beginning was just off the wall quirkiness without any sort of explanation or reason. The writing was Gomez' voice (the book is his blog entries), so normal descriptions of things had a tinge of strangeness to them.


I think this story would make for a funny skit on something like Saturday Night Live because the characters are so impressionable. I thought it was an enjoyable book, but I did find it difficult to connect with Gomez and I'm not sure if this is a genre I would normally enjoy. But if you are looking for a light, quirky read then I think this is a good one to pick up!