LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY (2022) - Review

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On sale: April 5, 2022

Every once in a great while, a book takes you by surprise. At first I found "Lessons in Chemistry" charming. Then I realized it wasn't the rom-com the cover seemed to suggest. Eventually I noted it wasn't just about chemistry. And finally I didn't want the story to end.

FIRST SENTENCE: "Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there'd be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was over." (The longest first sentence I have ever recorded.)

THE STORY: It's the 1960s again bringing back all the "outrageous sexism" women had to deal with as they began fighting for their equal rights. Our scientist heroine, Elizabeth Zott, meets Calvin Evans, a renowned scientist and avid rower. How this partnership changes them is the beginning of a story that touches and changes others.

Later when Elizabeth cannot find a position as a scientist, she improbably becomes the host of a television show called 'Supper at Six' where she uses chemistry to explain food preparation.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Having lived through the 1960s and experiencing much of what Bonnie Garmus describes, I realized how far we have come and how much farther we have to go. "Lessons in Chemistry" evokes a variety of responses and emotions ranging from constant laughing out loud to anger to tears and everything in between.

And Elizabeth is an amazingly kind, strong, stubborn, intelligent woman sometimes as irritating to the reader as she is to the people around her. All the characters (except for the villains) are people we want to have as friends too including Six-Thirty, "a really great dog".

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Reading this book is an experience you do not want to miss! April 25, 2022 issue of People Magazine had this as its Book of the Week

DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-copy of "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus from NetGalley/Doubleday Books for my honest review.


View all my reviews