Named a Notable Book of 2016 by the Washington Post, one of Amazon's Top 100 Books of the Year, one of New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books, one of The Guardian's Best Books of 2016, one of NPR's Best Books of 2016, a Must-Read Book of 2016 by PopSugar , one of EW 's 20 Best Books of 2016, one of Glamour's Top Ten Books of the Year, and one of Kirkus Reviews' "Best 100 Fiction Books of 2016" Meg Wolitzer, New York Times Book Review Michael Schaub, NPR.org Where'd You Go, Bernadette will love Eleanor [Flood]'s wry voice and dark humor."--Kim Hubbard, People Elinor Lipman, Washington Post Elisabeth Egan, Glamour Bernadette did, and its main character's problems feel more real.... Ms. Semple is an immensely appealing writer, and there's something universal in her heroine's efforts to get a handle on a life spinning out of control. We may not all have long-lost sisters who live in the most crazily status-obsessed corners of the South, but we surely know what she means about waking up each dawn with new resolve that melts by midmorning."--Janet Maslin, New York Times Maris Kreizman, Los Angeles Times --San Francisco Chronicle Brian Raftery, Wired --Tina Jordan and Isabella Biedenharn, Entertainment Weekly Adam Rathe, Town and Country -- Suzy Feay, Guardian Connie Ogle, Miami Herald --Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl and Dark Places -- Steph Opitz, Marie Claire Jarry Lee, BuzzFeed Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times Bernadette will recognize Semple's propulsive and satirical dialogue."-- Trine Tsouderos, Chicago Tribune --Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins --Rich Smith, The Stranger Claire Stern, InStyle --Tiffany Blackstone, Redbook The Corrections, the best episides of Bob's Burgers, and the private journal of the smartest, most irritable woman you know, TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTHeather Havrilesky, Bookforum Sadie L. Trombetta, Bustle --Marian Keyes, author of The Brightest Star in the Sky and This Charming Man --Jenny Comita, W --Brenda Janowitz, PopSugar --The Millions Where'd You Go, Bernadette had a madcap vibe and a 'bad mother' protagonist that captivated readers. TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTMeganne Fabrega, Minneapolis Star Tribune Amy Scribner, BookPage --Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Where'd You Go, Bernadette ."--Michael Merschel, Dallas Morning News --Dana Getz, Entertainment Weekly Where'd You Go, Bernadette ."--Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe Bernadette ... but illustrated too!"--Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina and Paradise Lodge Where'd You Go, Bernadette will eat up Semple's entertaining new novel about a graphic artist. In it, the imperfect wife and mother (is there any other kind?) vows to up her domestic game, only to have her day go badly awry."--Jane Henderson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch --Melissa Kravitz, AM New York --Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies --Alene Moroni, Booklist --Kathleen Gerard, Shelf Awareness --Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal --Publishers Weekly --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -- Sophie Flack, Boston Globe Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review --Parade Where'd You Go Bernadette a runaway hit."-- Liz Loerke, Real Simple Modern Family meets 24 ."--The Skimm Natalie Beach, O Magazine --Billy Heller, New York Post Shannon Carlin, Bust National Book Review Steph Cha, USA Today (3/4 stars) Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science Monitor Jamie Blynn, US Weekly Leigh Nordstrom, Women's Wear Daily Jana Siciliano, Bookreporter Zoë Apostolides, Financial Times Izzy Grinspan, New York Magazine Ellen Akins, Newsday Jeremy Kohler, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Wendeline O. Wright, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Terry Gross, NPR's Fresh Air Daily Kos San Antonio Express-News Where'd You Go, Bernadette but her new comic novel comes close.... You'll laugh. A lot."—Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News Joanna Novak, Bustle Adrienne Martini, Austin Chronicle Jeffrey Ann Goudie, Kansas City Star Andrew Travers, Aspen Times Denver Post Moira McDonald , Seattle Times
In 2012, author Maria Semple asked the question Where'd You Go, Bernadette? then answered it in her splendidly manic and madcap second novel. Now she's back — Semple, that is — with Today Will Be Different, another wickedly sharp and funny book.Looper Wash, a snarky hit TV show. Where'd You Go Bernadette?, a gift that keeps on giving — Eleanor's plans for the day blow up. A visit to her husband's surgical practice reveals the staff believes Joe and his family are away on a week's vacation. Considering that just that morning Joe pretended that he was leaving for work, this is cause for alarm.Looper Wash employee, one whom Eleanor treated shabbily and then fired. And instead of calling to nudge Eleanor about the graphic memoir she is late in delivering, the editor is delivering very different news.Batman .) The DNA of Semple's résumé, which includes Arrested Development and Mad About You, is threaded throughout her literary work. So too is the tight plotting needed to successfully launch and land a sitcom in the twenty-two minutes left to the writers once advertisers have had their say. Veronique de Turenne is a Los Angeles–based journalist, essayist, and playwright. Her literary criticism appears on NPR and in major American newspapers. One of the highlights of her career was interviewing Vin Scully in his broadcast booth at Dodger Stadium, then receiving a handwritten thank-you note from him a few days later.
Reviewer: Veronique de Turenne
The Barnes & Noble Review
…funny, smart, emotionally reverberant…The success of this poetic, seriously funny and brainy dream of a novel—"Mrs. Dalloway Takes Laughing Gas," perhaps—has to do with Maria Semple's range of riffs and preoccupations. All kinds of details, painful and perverse and deeply droll, cling to her heroine and are appraised and examined and skewered and simply wondered at. If that's considered a trick, readers of Semple's novel will be overjoyed to fall for it.
The New York Times Book Review - Meg Wolitzer
[Semple's] new book, Today Will Be Different, can be outrageously funny. But it cuts closer to the bone than Where'd You Go, Bernadette did, and its main character's problems feel more real. This time Ms. Semple delivers less satire and more soul…Ms. Semple is an immensely appealing writer, and there's something universal in her heroine's efforts to get a handle on a life spinning out of control. We may not all have long-lost sisters who live in the most crazily status-obsessed corners of the South, but we surely know what she means about waking up each dawn with new resolve that melts by midmorning. The Sisyphean poignancy to this book gives it a heft that Bernadette lacked, even if it's also rougher around the edges.
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
