Where'd You Go, Bernadette: a Novel

            Life as a genius isn’t easy all of the time. Geniuses have problems too. Just look at Bee, a fifteen-year-old student at a private school in Seattle. When she aces her report card yet again, Bee reminds her parents that they promised her a family vacation in Antarctica. They agree, begin planning the trip, and then the hilarity starts.

            Bee’s parents also aren’t average. Her father, Elgin Branch, is a star at Microsoft; her mother Bernadette is a once famous Los Angeles architect who suffered a major professional defeat, left the industry, and is now a virtual recluse. After agreeing to the trip, Bernadette realizes that she can’t be among the other tourists for the three-week timespan. She begins to plan ways to opt out of it, sending Bee and Elgin by themselves. Meanwhile, other incidents occur, escalating into major crises. The removal of vines from the Branch’s property results in a mudslide into their neighbor’s yard; this neighbor happens to be the mother of one of Bee’s classmates. Then another class mother who also is employed by Microsoft receives a transfer, becoming Elgin’s administrative assistant. Elgin decides that Bernadette is undergoing a psychotic episode and needs an intervention and a sojourn at the local mental health facility. Bernadette escapes from the intervention and seems to have fallen off of the face of the earth. Bee and Elgin set off in search of her.

            Author Maria Semple, a novelist and television writer for such shows as Arrested Development and Mad about You, presents a satirical, uproarious story told completely through correspondence – personal and business letters, emails, and documents. No group – Seattle residents, Microsoft employees, helicopter parents, and more --  escapes her sarcastic wit. But it’s all in good fun.

Three Junes

This first novel, written by Julia Glass, focuses on relationships and the joys and heartaches that they bring. The book features the McLeods, a Scottish family, and includes father Paul, mother Maureen, and sons Fenno, David and Dennis. In three sections of the book, and using flashbacks, we experience their lives in Scotland, Greece and the United States during three points of time in the 1980s and 1990s. The author sensitively portrays the attributes and foibles of the characters, all family members, friends and lovers of one another. Three of them are serendipitously linked: father/widower Paul meets and is attracted to the young American artist Fern while on a Greek cruise; six years later at the occasion of Paul’s death we observe the adventures of eldest son Fenno, a straight-laced homosexual expatriate who owns a bookstore in New York; finally four years later Fern and Fenno become acquainted while visiting with friends in the Hamptons.

Descriptive language allows the reader to visualize the settings as though they are works of art and the plot moves smoothly back and forth through time. This is a worthwhile book to read.

The Tenth Circle

Author Jodi Picoult mounts another expedition into the moral world of the American family. Daniel Stone is a work-at-home father who is a comic book artist and his wife Laura is an English professor at a local college specializing in Dante’s Inferno; their only child Trixie is a fourteen-year-old with a promising future. Then, Trixie’s world goes askew when she claims that she has been raped by her boyfriend. Daniel, as the parent closest to Trixie, doesn’t know how to bridge the sudden distance between them. Laura, who has secrets of her own, cannot handle the situation either.

The community turns against Trixie, favoring her ex-boyfriend, the local high school football hero, in the case. Trixie runs off to Alaska, where Daniel grew up as a white boy among the Eskimos. Here he acted out by cheating, stealing, and carrying out other delinquent activities in reaction to the teasing and bullying he received. Daniel ran away when he reached adulthood, vowing never to return and recreating himself as the modern father and mild-mannered man. When Daniel and Laura follow Trixie to Alaska, the situation comes to a boiling point and then reaches resolution, but not before some surprising events take place. The tenth circle in Dante’s Inferno is the worst area of Hell; the Stone family travels there and back in their quest for justice.

Comic book illustrations complement the storyline. This book is ideal for discussion.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

In the novel The Memory Keeper's Daughter, written by Kim Edwards, physician David Henry makes an impulsive and fateful decision that affects the psychological well-being of two families; his and another.
After he performs an emergency delivery of twins from his wife Norah during a blizzard, Dr. Henry discovers that while his son Paul is a healthy baby, the daughter Phoebe has Down syndrome. Fearing that the child will have heart problems, die young, and cause heartache for his wife, Henry asks his nurse Caroline to bring the daughter to an institution. He tells Norah that their daughter has died. However, Caroline decides not to abandon Phoebe and instead moves to another city to raise her as her daughter.
As the years pass, Norah continues to mourn the "loss" of her daughter; the suppression of this lie leads to the deterioration of the Henry's marriage and family life. Phoebe, on the other hand, thrives under Caroline's care and grows to reach her full potential.
The remainder of this book describes how this state of affairs is resolved, allowing each of its players some inner peace. The novel's finely drawn characters and realistic emotional expression make this a worthwhile reading experience.