I grew up on the rainy side of the Cascades. I moved away
for awhile and was freaked out by a year of blue skies in Northern California
as they went through a drought, but then got pretty used to it. Dry skies and actual
seasons for a few years in Colorado seemed pretty neat and we moved back to
that on the dry East side of the Cascades. I talked with someone in Salem
before our move who commented on it being the 99th day of straight
rain; it seemed like he was bragging! All this to explain why I do feel
somewhat nostalgic about books set in Seattle, or points north, that bring up
rain and blackberries (one thing I do miss about the rainy side). Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins is an example of this somewhat limited genre as
is Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette has a whacky contemporary feel to
it. Bernadette is trying to adjust to life in Seattle after moving from LA – it’s
been more than 10 years since they moved. She’s married and has an 8th
grader at a nearby private school. She calls all the other parents at the
school “gnats.” That gives you an idea of how well she’s adjusting. Her husband
is a big shot at Microsoft and there’s even a depiction of him giving a TED
talk in the book. If you haven’t listened to any TED talks before, here’s a
good one to start with: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html. The author also
likes it.
The action starts to really pick up when Bernadette’s
daughter, Bee, requests a trip to Antarctica. Bernadette doesn’t really leave
the house so this entails her hiring a virtual assistant from India. The story
is partly told via the e-mails between Bernadette and this assistant. It’s also
told from the point-of-view of her daughter after Bernadette’s gone missing and
Bee is trying to find any information about her at all. Bernadette’s back story
as an architect is pretty interesting.
This is a fun book. I think PNW’s will appreciate it as well
as any of those exiled from these parts and missing it. If anyone knows of
other fiction books that fit into this genre, I’d love to hear about them.
