I had seen this book around but never read it. I don’t know why it is something that I would read. Maybe it was the cover of the book that put me off. A woman with oversized glasses and that is it. However, when I saw the trailer for the movie I immediately bought the book and read it. Once I finished reading it I couldn’t wait for the movie the come out.
Bernadette is an award-winning architect in LA. She moves to Seattle and stops creating. Over the next 16 years, she slowly becomes more eccentric. Her husband sees her as losing her mind and going crazy. One day her daughter cashes in on a promise her parents made her. She can have anything if she maintains her straight A’s. She requests a family trip to Antarctica. Bernadette’s husband thinks she is getting increasingly irratic and requests mental help for her in the form of involuntary but hopefully voluntary admission to a psych hospital while he and the daughter go on the trip. With these storylines in place the story just blossoms.
The movie was absolutely amazing. I was so glad that it stuck to the book for the most part. It did turn some of the emails that Bernadette writes into actually acting scenes which I thought gave it a much better understanding into the life of Bernadette. Like her friend said she was a creator that stopped creating and it thrust her life into chaos. He husband was so wrong to spring the whole thing on her. As someone who has thought she was loosing her mind and voluntarily admitted herself to a psych hospital the way he went about it was completely and totally wrong. It made me even madder watching it in the movie. I cried when I read the part in the book and once again teared up watching the movie. Watching Bernadette come back alive as she designed and created the new South Pole Science station it was so nice to see her once again bloom into the creator that she was meant to be. I loved the strong bond that she had with her daughter. I hope as my girls get old I can have a bond that strong. All in all I think definitely read the book but most certainly watch the movie to add that extra something to what you just read. I will be watching this movie more than one time, and I don’t normally do that with movies.
Pick up your copy of the ebook or paperback copy on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Also check your local bookstore. Pick up your copy of the movie HERE on Amazon.