Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

Sorry I haven't posted for more than a week--I was drowning under homework.

Anyways, last month, I finished reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple. It was stunningly amazing. It was, in fact, one of the few books I have read recently that I actually enjoyed. The whole novel is basically a compilation of emails, letters, conversations, and narratives by the main character (Bee). Bee's mother is Bernadette, commonly known by their section of Seattle as "the crazy lady". When one reads an email from her archenemy/neighbor, Audrey Griffin, one would think she was mentally insane. According to Audrey, Bernadette ran over her foot at school for no apparent reason. The humor in this is that Bernadette never actually ran over Audrey's foot. Also, even if she did, she would have been provoked; Audrey was running towards their car and tapping on the windows while making strange faces. Needless to say, Bernadette is not very fond of her neighbor/people in general. She starts calling her neighbors "the gnats".

Later, we find out that Bernadette was actually a genius, and had received a MacArthur grant early in her career as an architect. She had designed the "20 Mile House", which was basically a pioneering "green" house. Not a greenhouse. A house that was designed to minimally impact the environment. The bad news: she had a really cranky neighbor/moviestar that decided to buy her house under an alias and destroy it. Bernadette literally went a little crazy with depression after 3 years of her work was destroyed. She moved to Seattle, far away from where the house once stood.

Bee, her daughter, is also really smart. She gets admitted into a private school, Chaote, reserved for really smart kids. However, Bernadette unexpectedly goes missing. Bee becomes angry at basically everyone in her life. She basically gets kicked out of Chaote. Chaos ensues as everyone trys to find Bernadette. Once elusive, Bernadette now seems to have just fallen off the earth. I'm trying not to spoil any of the later parts...read it for yourself and you'll see what I mean by "stunningly amazing." :)