The Barnes & Noble Review
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.
This time Semple gives us Eleanor Flood, an unwilling member of that vast tribe of career women who "lost track of time and madly scrambled to get pregnant." No slouch in the overachieving department, Eleanor fell in love, got married, and had a baby. Solidly on the mommy track, she's now a housewife to Joe, a genial and gifted hand surgeon who has suddenly become a rock star in his field. She's also the stay-at- home mom of their gender-bending eight-year-old son, Timby, whose name came from an iPhone spellcheck malfunction.
To scale this domestic pinnacle Eleanor had to leave behind her former life as the animation director and creative force behind Looper Wash, a snarky hit TV show.
With growing alarm, Eleanor realizes she has "joined the epidemic of haggard women in their forties trapped in playgrounds . . . donning maternity jeans two years after giving birth and sporting skunk stripes down the middle of their heads while they pushed swings. (Who needed to look good any more? We got the kid!)"
This is not a good thing.
Stunned by the rigors of birth and motherhood, Eleanor now pinballs her way through the small calamities of daily life. Thanks to Joe's skyrocketing career, she has been uprooted from her beloved New York City and transplanted into the upscale ethers of Seattle. There, from a perch of light-filled condo, she's flailing and failing as she tackles the precise ballet of her role as helpmeet.
The book, which takes place in a single day, starts with the low bar of Eleanor's aspirations. Less of a to-do list than a plea for clemency, the agenda includes the resolution to take a shower, dress in real (not yoga) clothes, play a board game with her son, initiate sex with Joe, not swear, and, throughout it all, to radiate calm.
It's a full-throated retreat from what Eleanor does excel at these days, which is to ferociously, and with great precision, lampoon the precious, rarified world she now inhabits.
Will things go wonderfully and wackily wrong? Oh yes.
The moment Timby fakes a stomach ache to get out of school — it's the same ridiculous and "ruinously expensive" Galer Street School from 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.
A lunch Eleanor is dreading with a "friend" she loathes ("Sydney Madison is the human equivalent of 'Tinnitus Today' ") turns out instead to be a meeting with a former 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.
With Timby as her wisecracking wingman throughout a day that lurches increasingly out of control, Eleanor reels as a series of dark secrets are exposed. One of these, centered on Eleanor's family, is meant to be the emotional heart of the story. But it's told in a series of flashbacks, and the characters don't quite catch hold. Though the details are by turns hilarious and heartrending, the ultimate reveal, as with the secret of Joe's whereabouts, lands with a bit of a thud.
Semple was an award-winning TV writer before she turned to novels. (Her father both wrote the pilot for and set the cartoony visual style of the 1960s TV series 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.
Here, with the vast (and commercial-free!) landscape of a novel to play with, Semple packs the pages with laugh-out-loud scenes, dark story arcs, and tiny moments of tenderness. She's generous both to her heroine and to her readers.
Near the middle of the book, before Eleanor knows whether her marriage is saved or lost, she pictures the family photos that line her condo walls. That’s where Semple gives Eleanor, and her readers, the best gift, something approaching wisdom. "This was happiness. Not the framed greatest hits, but the moments between. At the time I hadn’t pegged them as being particularly happy. But now, looking back at those phantom snapshots, I’m struck by my calm, my ease, the evident comfort of my life. I’m happy in retrospect." Not another killer quip or delightful quirk but the ultimate kindness, a road map to chart escape from Eleanor's desperate ennui — one just as useful, perhaps, to anyone who finds herself waking up and making the vow in Semple’s title.
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 New York Times Book Review - Meg Wolitzer
…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 - Janet Maslin
[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.
Publishers Weekly
07/11/2016
On the fateful day she decides to be her “best self,” Eleanor Flood—cult-famous cartoonist, mother, wife, cynic—spirals from one catastrophe to the next. Her day quickly turns hectic when her son, Timby, comes home sick from school. Hoping his father might help, Eleanor instead begins to suspect her surgeon husband is having an affair when his receptionist acts cagey. Eleanor’s ego is bruised when she realizes an underling she fired years ago is now a famous artist, she dodges calls from her publisher about a long-passed deadline for her graphic memoir, and, finally, she suffers what may be a concussion after crashing headfirst into a sculpture. The latest from Semple (Where’d You Go, Bernadette?) is a sharp, funny read, and the author injects quirky elements—drawings, a comic book, photocopies of poems—to add another layer of enjoyment. Though Eleanor is snarky, her troubles and growing calamities are engaging. Some of her encounters are a bit too convenient, and the trope of a “day from hell” makes for shallow interactions between characters, but Semple augments these first-person antics with third-person sections that dig deep into Eleanor’s past, finding particular resonance when telling the story of Ivy, the sister Eleanor feels she has lost to a wealthy husband in New Orleans. In the end, the novel wraps up too neatly, but the ride is consistently entertaining. Agent: Anna Stein, ICM Partners. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
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"
"Another tour de force.... 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."—Meg Wolitzer, New York Times Book Review
"Writing a comedy novel that manages to connect emotionally is no easy task, but Semple knocks it out of the park. TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTis hilarious, moving and written perfectly, and it makes a good case for Semple as one of America's best living comic novelists."—Michael Schaub, NPR.org
"Readers who devoured Where'd You Go, Bernadette will love Eleanor [Flood]'s wry voice and dark humor."—Kim Hubbard, People
"Loopy, deeply and darkly funny, and brave.... Semple is a master of the social skewer, boldly impolite and impolitic.... Eleanor is as sharp and Semple-esque as they come, which is to say a delightful danger to herself and others, sympathetic, and so very smart."—Elinor Lipman, Washington Post
"A little bit wacky and always wise, and we recognize people we know—including ourselves—on every page."—Elisabeth Egan, Glamour
"Outrageously funny. But [TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT] cuts closer to the bone than 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
"Semple brilliantly conveys a whole array of angst — self-deprecation and existential dread and a panic attack of neuroses — while simultaneously packing in a liberal dose of levity.... It's a joy to watch Eleanor struggle to change for the better. That we get to laugh along with her is an added bonus."—Maris Kreizman, Los Angeles Times
"Deliciously mucky mayhem."—San Francisco Chronicle
"A vivid, hilarious, remarkably compact book—271 pages' worth of crisp observations and occasionally too-close-to-home truths about modern relationships. And it's anchored by a gorgeous scrapbook-slash-mini-graphic novel."—Brian Raftery, Wired
"Quirky and blade-sharp."—Tina Jordan and Isabella Biedenharn, Entertainment Weekly
"Wickedly funny.... Semple's trademark dark humor and knack for creating a page-turning story out of socially awkward interactions will make this one you can't put down—and won't want to."—Adam Rathe, Town and Country
"A zesty, memorable novel."—Suzy Feay, Guardian
"Brisk, amusing and engaging, and Semple is a champion observer of the human condition."—Connie Ogle, Miami Herald
"TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTis so unique, so smart, so funny, so beautifully humane, so utterly of our times, it's astonishing. I've scribbled exclamation points and underlined passages on almost every single page so I can go back and savor. I've started quoting it as if it's already a classic—which, no doubt, it will be."—Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl and Dark Places
"Written with Semple's hilarity-cum-sincerity, Eleanor grapples with the past to reconcile her future and makes readers smile."—Steph Opitz, Marie Claire
"Crackling with honesty and heart."—Jarry Lee, BuzzFeed
"TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTstarts off as a funny, rant-y novel and becomes, by its end, an unexpectedly heartfelt exploration of a woman's inner life. (And yes, it's still funny.)"—Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times
"Fans of Bernadette will recognize Semple's propulsive and satirical dialogue."—Trine Tsouderos, Chicago Tribune
"TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTis a sublimely funny and inventive novel driven by Maria Semple's razor-sharp observations and a voice that leaps from the page."—Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins
"Consistently funny.... The heart of this book, the parts Semple wraps the best language around, is Eleanor's fear of her chosen family's rejection. Her aging body makes her feel inadequate, and she uses buckets of hilarious, fresh-seeming self-deprecatory language about that. The absurd lengths she goes to and the level of creativity she employs to seek out her husband's secret are the funniest, most moving parts of the book. In these moments, Semple's humor is tight and self-aware. Her scene-setting abilities amaze."—Rich Smith, The Stranger
"Hilarious and smart."—Claire Stern, InStyle
"A second dose of [Semple's] madcap genius."—Tiffany Blackstone, Redbook
"Semple has mastered the intersection of sad and nuts like no one else.... Like a cross between Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, the best episides of Bob's Burgers, and the private journal of the smartest, most irritable woman you know, TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTis a reckless and scattershot work of genius."—Heather Havrilesky, Bookforum
"Peppered with unforgettable one liners, laugh-out-loud funny observations, and plenty of those little truths we all think to ourselves but never say out loud. Eleanor's outlook on life, her internal dialogue and the conversations she carries out with others — all brought to life on the page through Semple's whip smart writing — will have you blinking back tears."—Sadie L. Trombetta, Bustle
"Whipsmart, dazzling, darkly comic and deeply touching. I loved it!"—Marian Keyes, author of The Brightest Star in the Sky and This Charming Man
"Equal parts smart and funny."—Jenny Comita, W
"A smart, laugh-out-loud funny, and thoughtful novel about how we reinvent ourselves and how we need to face the truth about our lives before we can truly change."—Brenda Janowitz, PopSugar
"Bittersweet, hilarious, perceptive."—The Millions
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette had a madcap vibe and a 'bad mother' protagonist that captivated readers. TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENThas the same snappy dialogue, zippy adventures and inside jokes about the Seattle scene."—Meganne Fabrega,Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Semple is second to none in humorous fiction. Her heroines are deeply flawed but totally relatable, and Eleanor is no exception. TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTis filled with transcendent moments of humanity, reminders that while we all can aspire to improve, sometimes it's OK to just appreciate what is already in front of us."—Amy Scribner, BookPage
"'Today will be different,' Eleanor Flood tells herself, and oh baby hang on for a wild ride that's like nothing Eleanor sees coming. In this brilliant depiction of a woman hanging on by her fingernails, Maria Semple delivers a perfect panic of a day on which the barely tolerable, muddle-through-it desperation that so many of us have known at one time or another suddenly erupts with life-shattering force. Can an existential crisis make us laugh? Such is Semple's talent that this one does, without losing any of the punch or gravity of the hardest kinds of lived experience."—Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
"TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT is going to delight the many, many fans of Where'd You Go, Bernadette."—Michael Merschel, Dallas Morning News
"Hilarious [and] heart-warming."—Dana Getz, Entertainment Weekly
"A stressed-out heroine resolves to change her rather plush life in this comedy, whose precious Seattle setting is as ripe a target for Semple's satire as it was in Where'd You Go, Bernadette."—Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
"God, I love Maria Semple! TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENTis just as funny, poignant, and life-affirming as Bernadette... but illustrated too!"—Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina and Paradise Lodge
"Fans of 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
"A precocious child, a stale marriage and plenty of clever quirk make this a story you can't put down. Expect glares from fellow passengers as you laugh out loud."—Melissa Kravitz, AM New York
"I had the uncanny feeling, while reading TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT, that Maria Semple had somehow snuck into my house when I was asleep, took an x-ray image of my heart, then painted it by hand in neon colors. This book is searingly honest and hilarious and dark and neurotic. It is dizzying. Best of all, it is delicious."—Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies
"Hilarious and touching, this will satisfy Semple's numerous fans and gain her new ones. Give this to readers of women's fiction, Seattle denizens and aspiring residents, and people reviewing their lives and choices."—Alene Moroni, Booklist
"With a strong narrative voice, fast pace and her signature wit, Semple cleverly spins another raucously funny story wound around deeper implications about the unexpected ways life teaches us to find meaning."—Kathleen Gerard, Shelf Awareness
"An introspective look, both comedic and tragic, at attempting to be the best one can be."—Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal
"A sharp, funny read.... Consistently entertaining."—Publishers Weekly
"Few will be indifferent to this achingly funny and very dear book. This author is on her way to becoming a national treasure."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Nothing short of a masterpiece."—Sophie Flack, Boston Globe
"In her latest brainy, seriously funny novel, private school parents, a husband's secret life and more confront a Seattle woman."—Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review
"A comedic whirlwind of lessons about life, family and facing your past."—Parade
"Filled with all the zany twists and signature humor that made Where'd You Go Bernadette a runaway hit."—Liz Loerke, Real Simple
"Think Modern Family meets 24."—The Skimm
"[A] cringe comedy of manners."—Natalie Beach, O Magazine
"The desperate housewives of Seattle.... You'll chortle into your morning cup of Starbucks."—Billy Heller, New York Post
"It's the promise of what tomorrow holds for Eleanor that makes her worth getting to know"—Shannon Carlin, Bust
"We've all had the 'day from hell,' but we can't make it as clever, fun, or whip-smart as Semple, the presiding queen of literary screwball satire."—National Book Review
"Downright hard to put down.... unrelentingly entertaining, with some nice pathos thrown in the mix."—Steph Cha, USA Today (3/4 stars)
"Absolutely delicious black comedy.... A witty delight."—Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science Monitor
"Humorously depicts the struggle to keep it together."—Jamie Blynn, US Weekly
"Comedic and charming."—Leigh Nordstrom, Women's Wear Daily
"There are few readers who won't find the pathos and struggle of [Eleanor's] journey towards her new and really authentic self genuine and heartfelt."—Jana Siciliano, Bookreporter
"There are some glorious moments of social satire."—Zoë Apostolides, Financial Times
"[Semple's] a master at creating comedy out of the neuroses of people with too much time and money on their hands."—Izzy Grinspan, New York Magazine
"Semple...has a singular genius for turning the ordinary inside-out and looking at it slantwise.... The allusions are quick and rich, the riffs nonstop and spot-on, and the results surprising."—Ellen Akins, Newsday
"While TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT can be outrageously funny, it reaches deeper into its protagonist and finds unstill waters, a river of sadness, deep within."—Jeremy Kohler, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Semple...has crafted another fast-paced story full of twists and turns that double down on 'mean is funny.' The result is a biting satire of well-off white liberal life that skewers everything in its path while maintaining a level of affection for its characters that balances out its acerbic sensibility."—Wendeline O. Wright, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Both hilarious and moving."—Terry Gross, NPR's Fresh Air
"Warm, funny and seriously good."—Daily Kos
"A quick punch to the funny bone."—San Antonio Express-News
"othing could top Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette but her new comic novel comes close.... You'll laugh. A lot."—Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News
"It's pretty much impossible to read Maria Semple without wanting to give the author a fist-bump. She holds up the coolest, cruelest mirror to today's farm-to-tech society."—Joanna Novak, Bustle
"Compulsively readable and surprisingly resonant.... Perfectly captures what it feels like to be a parent and a sibling and a wife and an artist, especially one who continuously feels that she is doing it all imperfectly."—Adrienne Martini, Austin Chronicle
"The humor, deft plotting and fresh and witty writing that trademark Semple's fiction will win you over."—Jeffrey Ann Goudie, Kansas City Star
Library Journal - Audio
01/01/2017
Like her previous best seller, Where'd You Go Bernadette, Semple's latest bitingly satirical novel features a modern woman on the verge of a breakdown. Middle-aged Eleanor Flood, former New Yorker and animator of a hit cartoon series, feels at loose ends in Seattle with her husband, Joe, the Seattle Seahawks team physician, and their precocious young son, Timby. As the book begins, Eleanor starts out the day with a mantra: "Today will be different…. Today I will be my best self, the person I'm capable of being," but within hours she and her son, who has again faked illness to leave school, are on a madcap mission to track down her possibly adulterous husband, who is also playing hooky from work. While many listeners will appreciate this raw, often laugh-out-loud glimpse at the struggles of a woman today, others may not be able to relate to the character of Eleanor, seeing her as a wealthy, unfulfilled person searching for meaning in an overprivileged life. Kathleen Wilhoite delivers an outstanding, energetic performance, giving the audiobook the feel of a one-woman show. VERDICT Recommended for fans of caustic novels. ["An introspective look, both comedic and tragic, at attempting to be the best one can be: wife, mother, or sibling. While not as…funny as Where'd You Go, this book will satisfy fans of Semple and satire": LJ 8/16 review of the Little, Brown hc.]—Beth Farrell, Cleveland State Univ. Law Lib.
Library Journal
08/01/2016
Narrated by irreverent Eleanor Flood, a self-described "past her prime animator" who achieved fleeting fame, Semple's latest novel following the best-selling Where'd You Go, Bernadette features the author's trademark satire. After relocating from New York to Seattle, Eleanor's erratic life consists of shuttling son Timby, lunches with friends she can't stand, poetry lessons with tutor Alonzo, and thinking about revitalizing her marriage to Joe. That is, until an old friend mentions Eleanor's estranged sister, Ivy. Interweaving chapters provide flashbacks to Eleanor and Ivy's difficult childhood after the death of their mother and years with an emotionally distant, alcoholic father. Semple acutely captures the complexities of sibling relationships when describing Ivy's hurried marriage to overbearing scion Bucky Willett, the series of events that led to the sisters' estrangement, and their failed efforts to reconnect. Present-day chapters focus on Timby faking his way out of school and Joe's unexplained absences at work, causing Eleanor's paranoia and insecurities to get the best of her. VERDICT An introspective look, both comedic and tragic, at attempting to be the best one can be: wife, mother, or sibling. While not as laugh-out-loud funny as Where'd You Go, this book will satisfy fans of Semple and satire. [See Prepub Alert, 4/18/16.]—Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal
OCTOBER 2016 - AudioFile
Listeners are dropped into Eleanor Flood’s complicated life just as she’s about to have a meltdown. Her son is faking illness, her husband is lying to her, and she’s upset by news of her estranged sister. Narrator Kathleen Wilhoite gives Eleanor a voice that’s as quirky and unpredictable as her personality while offering clues as to why things have gone so wrong in her life. Not only does Wilhoite perfectly convey a character who is both frustrating and charming, she also maintains the cohesiveness of the story as it shifts between first- and third-person perspectives. It’s the kind of narration that draws listeners into the story, wanting to know what happens next. The icing on the cake is a rendition of “Morning Has Broken,” complete with guitar accompaniment. M.M.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2016-06-22
A day in the life of an enchanting and gifted woman who is almost too frazzled to go on.The women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, the mad housewives, and the Annie Halls can welcome a new member to their club: Eleanor Flood, the narrator of Semple's (Where'd You Go Bernadette, 2012, etc.) second sendup of Seattle and its denizens. Eleanor, formerly a New Yorker and the animator of a popular cartoon about four girls in " '60's style pinafores" misdirecting "their unconscious fear of puberty into a random hatred of hippies, owners of pure-bred dogs and babies named Steve," lives in Seattle with her sweet Seahawks doctor husband and her precocious, makeup-wearing third-grade son. Timby goes to Galer Street School, an ultra-PC environ familiar to Bernadette fans, where Eleanor imagines his arrival was greeted with delighted cries of "Eureka! We've got a transgender!" This book is so packed with interesting characters and situations, it could have been three times as long. You want more New Orleans Garden District (where Eleanor's sister has been kidnapped by an effete Mardi Gras krewe captain), more New York animation studio, more poignant childhood stories (dead actress mother and alcoholic father, illustrated in a beautiful color insert), more annotated poems ("Skunk Hour," by Robert Lowell). Only one thing you don't want more of—a weird plotline about husband Joe's secret life. As Eleanor tells Timby when they visit a public art installation, "I don't mean to ruin the ending for you, sweet child, but life is one long headwind. To make any kind of impact requires self-will bordering on madness. The world will be hostile, it will be suspicious of your intent, it will misinterpret you, it will pack you with doubt, it will flatter you into self-sabotage—My God, I'm making it sound so glamorous and personal! What the world is, more than anything? It's indifferent." Ah, Eleanor. You could have stopped at glamorous and personal. Because few will be indifferent to this achingly funny and very dear book. This author is on her way to becoming a national treasure.
