Avoidance: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

July 2023 Introvert Book Club selection: A contemporary novel provides a witty, true-to-life portrait of an introvert.

From the standpoint of extroverts, introverts avoid a lot of things.  We may avoid or dread loud, crowded places, large events full of strangers, being put on the spot, pressures for small talk and constant togetherness other than with a partner or best friend.  But does that mean we’re pathological, pitiable, unlikable, miserable people?  Maria Semple’s madcap novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette offers a literary setting for thinking about this.