Where'd You Go, Bernadette

From: Suko
To: My Readers

Here I go again, writing in epistolary form.  I'm writing this as a letter, because I've just read Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, published in 2012, a book comprised of communications such as email messages and letters, with the exception of the words of the book's youngest main narrator, 15-year-old Bee, who writes in regular text.  I also wrote my review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows in letter form, so I hope you will not be too dismayed that I'm doing this again.  Honestly, it's so much fun to write in this way that I could not resist; I discovered this when I had to write a secret letter to my daughter before she embarked on an overnight field trip on the Star of India ship in fourth grade.  It was great fun to draft a dramatic, fictitious letter (which included a made-up allusion to a relative with a drinking problem) to be read out loud by the captain.  So bear with me, dear readers!  Maria Semple's book simply reminded me of how pleasurable it is to write in this way, which seems to give a person more freedom to be inventive.

So what did I think about this book? Before I reveal anything, I need to give you a bit of background information.  A few years ago, I read and reviewed Maria Semple's first novel, This One is Mine.  Over this past spring (and into the summer), I started watching episodes of Arrested Development (my "new" favorite show, which I find absolutely hilarious), and eventually noticed Maria Semple's name in the credits. To me, this was an astonishing discovery, as a new fan of the show.  I wanted to interview her.  Well, she graciously declined the interview but generously offered to have her agent send me a copy of her latest book. I was fine with that.  Her new book had already received a plethora of very favorable reviews, so I felt lucky to be getting a copy.

My dear, patient readers, I will take advantage of you no more. What did I think about Where'd You Go, Bernadette--the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?  It would be all too easy to resort to the simple, unsophisticated ways I described the book to family members (who may well have doubted my integrity as a semi-professional book blogger) while I was reading this book with the quirky title, using the most nondescript and ordinary statements such as, "it's really good", or "it's really funny".  But you know what?  It really is.  My family heard me chortle (charming word, eh?) more than a few times. The characters are both engaging and endearing, and I enjoyed the story being told in multiple perspectives, from the points of view of Bee, Bernadette Fox, Elgie, Manjula Kapoor, Audrey Griffin, Soo-Lin Lee-Segal, Ollie-O, and others.  It's a very clever and creative way to present the story of ex-architect and MacArthur genius award winner Bernadette Fox, now an agoraphobic mother with a virtual assistant in Delhi and a low tolerance for "gnats", who has disappeared just prior to the family's planned excursion to Antarctica.  It may sound utterly wacky, but truthfully, this book is extremely entertaining, nothing short of brilliant.  It was fun to read, and remarkably funny.  Among other things, Maria Semple makes fun of the main setting of the book, Seattle (where the author lives), but, no worries--this only whetted my desire to visit this great city (the birthplace of Amazon.com and Starbucks!). 

Maria Semple does what she does best with this book: entertain!  Where'd You Go, Bernadette is one of my favorite books of the year so far, and certainly, the funniest.  And it reminded me of something to always keep in mind as a writer: you need to entertain.  You cannot be boring.  Not even for a nanosecond.

Thanks for reading,
Suko

Letter to My Daughter: Review and Giveaway

Think about the letters you've saved over the years. Are they love letters? Are they the letters you got from home during your first summer away at camp? Do you have a box full of letters from best friends, full of events and compliments, or acceptances to schools or for jobs? You probably saved these letters because they touched your emotions when you first read them. Chances are good that they still affect you when you reread them.

An epistolary novel is a fictional book written as a series of documents, usually letters, although diary or journal entries, newspaper clippings, and other documents are sometimes used. In recent times, electronic "documents" such as email and even blogs have also come into use. The word 'epistolary' comes from the Latin word epistola, meaning a letter. The very first epistolary novel may have been the Spanish Prison of Love (Cárcel de amor) (c.1485) by Diego de San Pedro. Throughout the years, there have been countless books written in epistolary form, which became popular as a genre in the 18th century, fell largely out of use in the late part of that century, and then became popular again. Even Jane Austen tried her hand at epistolary writing, with her novella, Lady Susan, and Pride and Prejudice, which contains many letters, may have originally been intended as an epistolary novel called "First Impressions". Recently I read two epistolary books, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows (which I reviewed in epistolary form), and West From Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder (which I also reviewed). Epistolary novels often feel a bit more intimate, more revealing, and more passionate to me than regular novels, and I looked forward to reading a new book in this genre, Letter to My Daughter by George Bishop, published in 2010.

Letter to My Daughter is written as a letter from a distraught mother, Laura, to her daughter, Liz, on the eve of her fifteenth birthday. Liz has left home in the middle of the night in her mother's car after a fight with her. As Laura anxiously awaits her daughter's return, she writes a letter to Liz about her own past and the secrets she has kept hidden. In it, she reveals how at fifteen she fell in love with a Cajun boy, Tim Prejean, who was two years older than her. Her parents strongly disapproved of her relationship with Tim, and sent Laura away to a boarding school run by nuns, the Sacred Heart Academy in Baton Rogue. Tim has enlisted in the army during the era of the Vietnam War, and he and Laura continue their forbidden romance through letters in this coming-of-age story.

Imaginative and affecting, I was transfixed and transported by descriptions in Letter to My Daughter of rural Louisiana and could easily envision "the sticks" where "small houses stood scattered here and there among the trees" in a place with "dirt roads, dirt yards, and dirt gardens". The beauty of this book is in the details and the way the author captures feelings on paper (Tim's father, who lives in a camping trailer in the woods, is described as "desperately hospitable", offering can after can of RC Cola to Liz). Although it's short, the story is full of power and emotion. Like a treasured letter, this is a book to read and reread. It would be a very good choice for mother/daughter book clubs, and may even inspire some mothers to write letters to their own children--about things that are important but difficult to express face-to-face.

After reading Letter to My Daughter, I was curious about something and asked the author a couple of questions:

Why did you write Letter to My Daughter from the point of view of a woman, Liz's mother? What "advantages" and/or "disadvantages" did this give you as a writer?

Here is his reply:

Dear Suko's Notebook,

Thanks for hosting me here on your blog. Lots of readers have wondered about the female point of view in my novel Letter to My Daughter.

A few years ago I was working in India, and at the end of my job, I took a camel safari in the desert. I went to sleep in my tent one night, and I dreamed this whole novel, beginning to end. In my dream, the story was clearly told from the point of view of the mother. I heard the woman's voice, even. The odd thing is that I don't know anyone quite like Laura, the narrator in the story. She's not based on anyone in real life.

So I went into the novel with a strong sense of the voice and the story. Still, it took some time to overcome my doubts about writing from a woman's point of view. But eventually I realized that it wasn't all that different from a man's point of view. The big emotions--fear, love, hate, jealousy--are all the same no matter who you are. The challenge is in getting the details right--what a teenage girl sees when she looks at a boy she admires, for example. Things like this took some imagining. Happily, women who've read the novel seem to think I got it right.

~George Bishop

Fascinating! George, I enjoyed reading your answer in epistolary form.

Wonderful news! Random House is offering one copy of Letter to My Daughter as a giveaway (U.S./Canada).

• To enter the giveaway for this book, simply leave a comment.
• For another chance at winning, become a follower of this blog, or let me know that you're already a follower, or that you subscribe in Google Reader.
• For an additional chance, post about this contest on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter.
• For yet another chance, mention an epistolary book that you've enjoyed reading.

Enter by 5 PM PDT on Wednesday, June 2. One winner will be selected randomly and announced on Thursday, June 3. Good luck!



Special thanks to Lisa from TLC and Random House for sending me this book. For more reviews of this book, please visit the other stops on TLC's blog tour for Letter to My Daughter.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

From Suko to Readers

Dear Readers,

I have a confession to make, and the sooner I get it off my chest, the better. I admit that the outlandish title of this book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, left me wondering if I'd ever actually read it. Many recommended this book to me, but I couldn't get past the awkward sounding, eight-word title. Guernsey brought to mind that special breed of cows--not anything to do with books or literary circles-- and it took me a while to even be able to recite the title properly. Furthermore, potato peel pie, quite frankly, sounded utterly unappealing to me, and I wondered if the book held any appeal for me at all. But, because this book received so many glowing reviews, I knew I'd read it--eventually. And I'm glad that I made the effort recently. Now I realize that the title is just right--its very oddness is wonderful--and I don't stumble over the title words quite as much.

An interesting, well-written letter is worth it's weight in gold, especially in this age of email and instant messages. Published in 2008, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a set of letters from Juliet, a writer in London, to the other characters in the book, many of whom live in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands (part of Great Britain but located in the English Channel, close enough to see mainland Europe with the naked eye). This is an epistolary book, a novel written as a series of documents, letters in this case. (I wish I could write such dramatic letters!) Written with ample warmth and humor, these letters form a novel that's an original celebration of books and the written word, and of human connection. (Letters are an engaging, creative way to tell a story. I enjoyed reading West From Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose, which is also a series of letters. What other books are composed solely of letters?)

In this sensational novel, written by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows, the title literary club is formed, literally, in self-defense. During World War II, Guernsey was occupied by the Germans for five years, who, among other things, imposed strict curfews on the villagers. Caught heading home past curfew after an illegal dinner of roast pork, an assorted group of islanders form The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—out of the need for an immediate alibi. In order to validate their claim, the members of this newly formed literary group decide to hold actual subsequent meetings (sometimes featuring desserts such as potato peel pie, the only pie they could make with the scant supplies available). To their surprise, especially since several of the members had never read much before, the club soon ignites a genuine love of reading and books, as well as some intense literary debates.

As London emerges from the shadow of World War II in 1946, writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. She is contacted by a native of Guernsey, who has discovered her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the intriguing world of this man, Dawsey, a pig farmer, and other members of the book club who also write to her. Juliet begins a prolific correspondence with the society’s members--charming them (and us!) with her marvelous letters--and learning about their island, their book preferences, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sails to Guernsey, and the course of her own life is greatly altered.

I absolutely adore this line from the book, and although it is on the inside book jacket, I will repeat it here because it is superb:

"Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers."

That is exactly how I felt about this book: that it was precisely what I needed to read. This happens to me fairly often. I pick up a book and quickly realize it's what I need to be reading, that it has significance and relates to my life in some way in an almost uncanny manner. In this instance, it's significance was mostly due to all the "book talk".

If you have read this book, have an interest in reading it, or have a comment related to something else in this post, I would enjoy hearing from you. As always, thank you for reading.


Yours sincerely,
Suko