I was looking for a fun book and this NPR recommendation was on the money—funny and quirky.

The first thing you notice about the book is the narrative construct: it is an epistolary novel— the story told by Bernadette’s 15 year old daughter Bee, mostly through emails and letters between the characters, interspersed with the occasional voice of Bee. (Wait, how did she get a  hold of private communication? It’s explained later in the book). The book really only works because of this. There’s always something appealing about reading written communication exchanges—it’s asynchronous and forces writers to think through things better. It’s probably one of the reasons the movie wasn’t as well received as the book. I haven’t seen it yet. Ms. Semple does not succeed in giving the writers other than Bernadette a distinctive style: all the emails/letters seem to be written by the same person. This doesn’t take away from the overall story and effect though. 

The book has a few emotionally maladjusted characters. Chief among them is Bernadette—a genius who once upon a time was a promising architect and Mac Arthur foundation awardee, but now turned neurotic and misanthropic, after an unfortunate end to one of her early projects in L.A. She has not recovered from that setback, abandons architecture altogether, and goes to great lengths to avoid human engagement in her new home city of Seattle which city she now hates with a passion. She does however dote on her precocious daughter Bee, whose request for a family trip to Antarctica in return for her perfect school grades, sets off the entire sequence of events described in the book. 

What’s really gone missing is Bernadette’s will to create. The despair brought on by the failed project thrusts her into a vicious cycle of withdrawal from her calling (architecture) in turn driving withdrawal from functioning normally in society. Fortunately, her spirit gone missing is rekindled by the end of the book.

Funny and heartwarming, it’s a good read. I particularly enjoyed following along several bits of the Antarctic cruise with user videos on YouTube—especially in my current homebound convalescent phase. I think I’ll watch the movie anyway.