Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple 🔖🔖🔖🔖

I struggled to determine the star rating for this one. It didn't move me deeply or change my life at all, but the more I think about this novel, the more I think it was actually kinda brilliant. So it gets 4 stars.

I really enjoyed the dark humor and totally related to Bernadette and her interaction with others. Even though the format (compilation of emails, notes, reports, articles all tied together with 15-year old's commentary) had the potential to be choppy, it was quite smooth and completely kept my interest in the background story. This has been categorized by some as "chick lit" but I completely disagree. Not to disparage chick lit, but this novel was smart, witty, uplifting in the long run, and gave me motivation to ponder deeper meaning. I don't experience any of that with chick lit. I think Semple did a great job in building the characters in the story, even those we really didn't like much.

The meaning for me for this novel was about not getting lost in expectations and find what makes you happy and brings you to life. Honestly, it's so much deeper than that ... maybe you should just read it for yourself. :)