Where's You Go, Bernadette?

Maria Semple takes aim at many of the pretensions of Microsoft and Seattle in general in this tale of a family that has gone rather significantly off course. Bernadette, once a rising star in the architectural world, has been transformed by a series of miscarriages and the serious health issues of her daughter's early years. She has become reclusive and intolerant of people and of going out in public. In fact she has hired a virtual assistant in India to do everything for her; only the virtual assistant is actually a front for a Russian mafia scam to get credit card and financial information. Not only does Bernadette fail to exercise the most rudimentary cautions online, she has also stopped attending to even the most basic maintenance of her house and marriage, leaving both to fall apart. Husband Elgin, on the other hand, has become a major rock star at Microsoft and is spending all his time where he is idolized. When her adored daughter Bee gets straight A's for her final year in middle school and claims her promised reward in the form of asking for a family trip to Antarctica, things really begin to unravel. Told in a somewhat epistolary form through e-mails, reports from various players like a psychiatrist and the FBI, letters, and even magazine articles, this is certainly a quirky novel. The sadness of Bernadette's disintegration is offset somewhat by her wicked wit, and the whole situation is retrieved in the beautifully written last 30 pages. This book has received rave reviews. I was somewhat lukewarm, however.