Over my summer break, I read the book Where'd You Go Bernadette, by Maria Semple. The book is written in the form of a collection of letters, emails, FBI reports, interview transcripts, and even an emergency room bill. The main character is Bernadette Fox, as the title would suggest. She was an architectural genius and the mother of Bee Branch. After Bee was born with a heart defect, she puts her career on hold to care for her infant daughter. Even though her daughter is growing up and healthy, Bernadette still hasn't returned to building and becomes isolated from society. She is so detached from reality that she must reserve to outsourcing her life to a virtual assistant under the name "Manjula". As a reward for her good grades, Bee was promised anything she wanted, and asked for a vacation to Antarctica. While Bee is psyched about the trip, Bernadette is eager to get out of going. She goes completely out of her way to not go on the trip, resorting to getting her wisdom teeth pulled out. Comedic and charming, this book is definitely a favorite.One of the major themes in this novel was to trust and support your family members, even if they've hurt you. This first begins when Elgin Branch, Bernadette's husband, is overwhelmed by Bernadette's complaining and ranting about her hate for trivial parts of life in Seattle. He doesn't blame her, though, because he loved Bernadette and told himself that she would eventually stop. In a letter to a psychologist, he writes, "Remember, for the first several years of living in Seattle, Bernadette was pregnant, or had recently miscarried. As far as I knew, these mood swings were hormonal swings, or a way of processing grief." This shows how Elgin really wants to believe that these incidents aren't really "Bernadette". This theme becomes more evident late on in the story when Elgin promises to support Bernadette even though she caused their identities to be stolen. Even later in the book, Bernadette in turn forgives Elgin for his mistakes. In a letter to Bee, she wrote, "OK, we need to double-swear to never tease Dad about the emails from the admin. You may have a hard time seeing it now, but trust me, it meant nothing. No doubt poor Dad is already dying of mortification." This quote means that both Bernadette and Elgin forgive each other for their mistakes and will move past them and not linger on the past.
