where'd you go, bernadette

Clever, enjoyable, quick read, but ultimately kind of of whatever. Made me sad at parts and the only time I remember laughing out loud is a throwaway dick joke. The rest of the humor I get but just isn't that funny. Semple is too compassionate to do the Tom Wolfe thing of creating characters for whom she has total contempt, but there's a little bit of cheap-shotting that's a turn-off for me. Bill Bryson does the same thing in some of his books, like the one about small towns.