Tag Archives: wealthy

Book Review: Where’d You Go Bernadette

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Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple (pub date 8/14/12)

“A little social anxiety never hurt anyone, am I right?”

We all know a “Bernadette.”  She’s the one who doesn’t join in with the rest of the group, the one who chooses not to adhere to social convention, the one too smart and too interesting for the room.  She’s the one you might think is weird, but might surprise you if you got to know her.  In this novel, author Maria Semple introduces us to just such a character.

Bernadette Fox is a wealthy wife and mother living in Seattle.  Her husband is an executive at Microsoft and their teenage daughter, Bee, is a gifted student about to move across the country to an exclusive boarding school.  But just below the surface, Bernadette is a wreck.  A once-successful architect and still a legend in the field, she left her profession suddenly and moved from Los Angeles to Seattle.  This turn of events led her to become increasingly agoraphobic, anxious, and socially awkward.  She would become a nuisance for the other mothers at Bee’s private school, a worry to her husband, and a neighbor from Hell.  Then one day, shortly before she was supposed to take a family trip to Antarctica, Bernadette suddenly vanishes.

The story is told largely from Bee’s point of view, as she tries to discover the cause behind her mother’s disappearance.  The point of the story is not only finding out where Bernadette went physically, but emotionally as well.  What would cause a successful career woman and recipient of a genius grant to suddenly give up her profession?  Why would a someone who spent her life creating beautiful buildings choose to live in a dilapidated house and let it fall further into disrepair?  Why does everyone judge her so harshly?

Where’d You Go Bernadette is delightful.  I absolutely loved this book; I read the first third and the entire second half in one sitting each.  It’s an absorbing character study and a wicked satire of wealthy Seattle society and Microsoft corporate culture.  Hilarious is some parts and touching in others, it’s a book that can be enjoyed by many different audiences.  Until now, I wasn’t aware that Semple wrote for Arrested Development (and other shows), but I can definitely see the resemblance in the dialogue and writing style.  I would recommend this book to just about anyone.  Bernadette is a character you won’t be able to get out of your head for a long time!

Early Review: The Darlings

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The Darlings by Cristina Alger (pub date 2/16/12)

Inspired by the not-too-long-ago Bernie Madoff scandal, and in light of the seemingly endless financial recession still going on, here is a novel by a new author that takes us inside the privileged lives of the Manhattan elite.

The Darlings is about a fictional Manhattan family and what happens when their world comes crashing down.  Carter Darling is a billionaire financier and the embodiment of the term ‘WASP.’  With a beautiful wife, two perfect daughters, and endless connections, he does indeed lead a charmed life.  He has just hired his son-in-law Paul as the head of his hedge fund’s legal team, a position Paul is happy to accept. 

But things begin to quickly unravel for the Darling family the day before Thanksgiving.  A tragic event shocks the financial world, and invites unwanted media attention on Carter’s financial dealings.  With an investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission looming overhead, the family members become suspicious of one another, and betrayal and heartache are quick to follow.

This was a very interesting book to read, with a storyline quite relevant to the time.  Cristina Alger has a law degree and has actually worked as an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co., making her the ideal person to write a story like this.  But in addition to having the necessary knowledge and experience to make this story come to life, she is also a great writer.  Her characters are living, breathing people with needs, fears, insecurities, joys, and aspirations.  Alger’s writing takes us to the forefront of a lifestyle filled with prestigious schools, charity balls, summers in the Hamptons, trips to Nantucket, and Park Avenue apartments.  But it’s a cut-throat lifestyle too, a world in which not everyone survives:

“Manhattan was a Darwinian environment: only the strongest survived. The weak, the nice, the naïve, the ones who smiled at passersby on the sidewalk, they all got weeded out. They would give up. They would opt out.

The ones who stayed long enough to raise children were the tough ones, the tenacious ones, the goal-oriented ones, the gold-digging ones, the deal-closing ones, the ‘kill or be killed’ ones, the ‘whatever it takes’ ones. They looked out for themselves and slept with one eye open.”

With a tight story and a surprising ending, The Darlings is an enjoyable novel by a new author to watch.  Regardless of whether you know anything about law or finance, this is a book that many different audiences can enjoy.