Lessons in Chemistry ⭑⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Historical Fiction
US Publication: April 5, 2022
Print: 400 pages
Audio: 11 hours 55 minutes
Confetti Rating: 4 stars
REVIEW:
Anything less than a 5-star review for Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel is a minority opinion, so take my 4-star thoughts with a grain of salt. Or as the book’s heroine Elizabeth Zott would say, a grain of sodium chloride.
Lessons in Chemistry tells the story of a brilliant scientific mind in the 1960s. Only problem is that the mind is in the body of the woman. Not just any woman, but an atypical one who has no interest in marriage or the other traditional trappings of domestic life. Still, one thing leads to another, and she finds herself with a daughter living in the suburbs. Because of the gender roles of that era, her passions and talents for chemistry are going to waste until she ends up with a nightly television show teaching other women how to cook. “Suppers at Six” finally gives home-bound, invisible moms a platform to ask questions, dream big, and prioritize themselves. It also puts items like “acetic acid” on their shopping lists. (That’s vinegar for all you non-sciency types like me.)
I enjoyed my time with Elizabeth Zott and look forward to whatever Bonnie Garmus writes next. My slight hesitation in fully recommending Lessons in Chemistry is that it deals with some very serious themes. One major scene and plot point deals with sexual assault, and I just wish it hadn’t gone allllllll the way there. I think when picking up a book like this I’m looking to escape darker reads that include violence against women. Alas, rape, lather, rinse, repeat. Sigh.
The novel’s manuscript was snatched up in a bidding war for adaptation rights by Apple TV+ pre-publication, so actress Brie Larson is already cast to play Elizabeth Zott. If the series is faithful to the novel, it’ll end up feeling like a #metoo-era feminist woman took a time machine back to the 1960s. I’ll definitely be tuning in when it debuts, but personally I hope it softens the novel’s sharp edges a bit.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
A delight for readers of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, this blockbuster debut set in 1960s California features the singular voice of Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.