Read: Today Will Be Different

Two years ago, in February 2014, I read author Maria Semple's book "Where'd You Go, Bernadette." I absolutely loved it. I found her writing style to be fast paced and frenetic (in an exciting way). She knows exactly when to inject humor and when to slow things down to make a big reveal. She drops flashbacks like bread crumbs, leaving a trail for her eager readers. 

When I learned Semple would be publishing a second book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. "Today Will Be Different" was released in October 2016 and I bought a copy on Small Business Saturday at my favorite independently owned book shop in Miami, Books & Books in Coral Gables. 

Just like Bernadette Fox in "Where'd You Go, Bernadette," Semple's new protagonist, Eleanor Flood, is eccentric and unlikable. Like Bernadette, Eleanor also lives in Seattle, is married to a perfect man and has one child. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

The entire story (255 pages) takes place over one day. We follow Eleanor as she prepares breakfast for her son in the morning, picks him up from school at the nurse's office, takes him on a hunt to find her husband (who is mysteriously not in his office) and then ultimately reunites with him at an unexpected location. You may be wondering, can one day's events really keep my attention? Well, Semple layers the present day action with memories of the past - Eleanor's childhood, how she met her husband, when she gave birth to her son - and these windows into the past are actually more captivating than the manic day we're following. 

The whole story (past and present) is told from Eleanor's perspective. My mother had also read it and she commented, "To me, the entire book felt like a stream of consciousness. We can all relate, since our own minds often bounce from thing to thing." Here is an example. On page 55, Semple writes:

"As for my constant low-grade state of confusion - the Blur is a term that seems to be sticking - let me break it into three categories: (1) things I should know but never learned, (2) things I choose not to know, and (3) things I know but totally screw up. 

Things I should know but never learned? My left from my right. Sorry, but you better ask someone else for directions.

Things I chose not to know? Plenty. There's only so much a good brain has room for, let alone a bad brain like mine. So I made an executive decision: There would be subjects I'd aggressively take no interest in, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lean Dunham, the whereabouts of the stolen paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner heist, what GMO even stands for, and, until Timby's flirtation with kneesocks in the GAP five minutes ago, gender identity. If that makes my human existence a limited one, I stoically accept my fate. Today's prevailing stance seems to be I have an opinion, therefore I am. My stance? I have no opinion, therefore I am superior to you. 

Things I know but always screw up? Times. If I have a lunch at 12:30, I'll write 12:30 in my book. But along the way, some alchemy happens in my brain and 12:30 becomes 1:00. You'd think that after arriving for the theater half an hour after curtain (a dozen times!), I'd have learned to triple-check the ticket. But no. I wish I could explain it. One of life's enigmas." 

Do you feel exhausted reading that? The Eleanor character definitely sucks the life out of a room. 

One of the cool things about "Today Will Be Different" is that Eleanor is an animator, so through out the book there are illustrations of her work. I really loved that surprise visual element peppered in with the prose. 

While it wasn't as fresh as "Where'd You Go, Bernadette," Semple's "Today Will Be Different" is definitely worth the read. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Julia Roberts has been cast as Eleanor in a TV series based on the book. 

I am struggling to decide what to read next. Have you loved anything recently? 

*Image courtesy of NPR.