This contains trigger warnings.

*sigh* I wanted to like this, I really did, and based on the premise I should have.

First of all this is described as "laugh out loud", it isn't. It's also described as being in the same vein as 'The Marvellous Mrs Maisel,' it isn't.

For something that is decribed as being hilarious, there was an awful lot of dark subject matter. While I understand that humour can be found in dark places etc, this wasn't it. The tone of the book was all over the place, like it didn't know what it wanted to be. It thought it was smarter and funnier than it was. I genuinely struggle to see what was so hilarious, I was mildly amused in some instances at most.

During this 'hilarious' story, there is a brutal rape in chapter 3, death of a spouse, implied paedaphilia, abuse, abandonment, bullying, a second sexual assault and sexism. Again, I don't have a problem with the subject matter, I do have a problem with the execution of the subjects and the marketing of the book.

Elizabeth as a main character just isn't that likeable. I get that she is supposed to be super intelligent and 'quirky' but she doesn't feel like a real person for much of the book, there is nothing to connect to. She also speaks like she is quoting from a textbook about sexism and feminism which does not feel genuine or organic. It felt more like the author was lecturing us. Also don't get me started about her daughter and how intelligent and advanced she was at a ridiculously young age. Of course she had a genius daughter. *eye roll*

The cooking show doesn't come into play until at least half way through the book. Theres also a subplot regarding her husband's parentage which just felt...tiring by that point to be honest. Oh...we also get the dogs POV for alot of the story, which was a choice. To be fair, I was more invested and in the dog than Elizabeth and would have preferred the whole book in his voice. At least you could connect with him...the dog. 🤔

The 2nd half of the book was a little better than the first and it had a more positive ending at least. I've given it 2 stars because I did like the love story between Elizabeth and Calvin, as short lived as it was. It was very sweet, with two lonely nerds and outcasts meeting and forming such a strong bond.

I read about Lessons in Chemistry on a book mailing list a while back and instantly put it on my Want to Read list. I then applied for a copy on Netgalley, but there was so much interest in it I was very much surprised, but delighted, when I was given an ARC. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House.

The book did not disappoint. Elizabeth Zolt became my hero from the opening pages. The characters are all well written, the good and the bad. The story moves well and never falters, it is such a page turner. Throughout the book I went from joy, to sadness to incandescent with rage and then back
to joy again.

Bonnie Gamus has perfectly captured the injust way woman have been, and are, treated. She has a new fan in me and this book is going to sit with me for a long time. I wish her every success as a novelist and I hope she writes many more books.

Well, I think I just found my new favourite of the year!

Lessons in Chemistry is full of heart, a dash of warmth and a whole heap of chutzpah. The characters are so well drawn they feel like friends and the story, although wrapped in tragedy is so heart warming it’s like a hot chocolate and your favourite comfy chair on a winters day (with a good book obviously).

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, highly recommended.

“Imagine if all men took women seriously. Education would change. The workforce would revolutionize”

🚨Spoiler alert: it’s as good as everyone says!!!

🧫What it’s about🧫
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, she would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.
But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one Calvin Evans, who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.
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.

🦹‍♀️Hilarious, zesty, courageous , Zott is a fantastic character who made this 400-page book feel like a breeze! You have the perfect recipe for debut novel success in there:
👩‍🍳
•Heaped spoons of brilliant writing
•1 super smart dog you will swoon over
•Dollops of laugh out loud lines
•400gr of fighting the patriarchy
•1 woman in STEM who rocks!
•A bunch of excellent side characters
•An ending which tastes just right!

“Whenever you feel afraid, just remember. Courage is the root of change - and change is what we’re chemically designed to do. […] Do not allow your talents to lie dormant, ladies. Design your own future.”

Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review. Lessons in Chemistry is out April 5th 2022. Soon to be an AppleTV+ series and unsurprisingly to be published in over 34 countries.

Set in the early 1950s and 1960s, Bonnie Garmus's offbeat comedic historical debut is a joyous and vibrant delight that will wrap its tentacles around your heart with its central protagonist, single mother and research scientist, the smart and beautiful Elizabeth Zott, whose passion for science has her seeing the world and people through the lens of Chemistry. Unfortunately for her, she lives in a time where it is believed that women have no place in science, it's a world where men dominate, control, exploit, patronise and silence women, sexually harrassing, lying, cheating and stealing her research, publishing and passing it off as their own. It doesn't stop there, men feel they can sexually assault a woman, and it will be the woman who pays the price, Elizabeth is forced to leave, unable to complete her PhD, with the police expecting her to 'regret' her behaviour, such are the rage inducing social norms and attitudes of the time.

However, Elizabeth is no ordinary woman, she refuses to pander to fragile male egos, it worries her not one whit that she doesn't fit in at the patriarchal Hastings Institute, she accepts no limitations for herself, nor for anyone else. The chemistry between her and the star scientist, Calvin Evans, another man who does not fit either, leads to love, the two of them living together, Zott does not believe in marriage, and their religion is science. Circumstances result in Zott becoming a single mother to the precociously bright 4 year old, Mad, an early reader, voraciously consuming the likes of Norman Mailer and Charles Dickens. The challenges Zott faces, such as being fired for being pregnant and her dire financial circumstances has her becoming an unlikely, reluctant and uncompromising star, dressed in a lab coat, with her popular TV cooking show, Supper at Six, focusing on the chemistry of ingredients and recipes, carrying her subversive and radical agenda of making women question and challenge the cultural misogyny and the limitations placed on their lives. Needless to say, this makes her some implacable enemies.

What makes the strong and independent Zott able to face the unrelenting harsh pressures and problems that come her way are her close knit and growing family, at the centre of which is their protective genius dog no-one will be able to resist, Six-thirty, familiar with more than 600 words, neighbour Harriet Sloane, rower Dr Mason, her TV producer, Walter Pine, and the Reverend Wakely, perhaps we can include Miss Frask too. This is a remarkable, hilarious and unforgettable debut from Garmus, outrageously entertaining, with oodles of charm, and I have no doubt that this will be a runaway success on publication. Do yourself a favour and read this brilliant novel. Highly recommended! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

All Elizabeth Zott wants to do is science, specifically research into abiogenesis, the origin of life on Earth. But as a single mother in 1961 her options are limited. So when the father of one of her daughter’s schoolmates offers her a cooking show, with better pay, it’s hard for her to say no. Cooking is chemistry after all, she can teach the housewives of America science from their own living rooms!

I loved the idea of a science-based cooking show, Elizabeth is right, cooking is science. I went in with high hopes and was a little bit disappointed in Lessons in Chemistry. It was an easy read, and amusing at times, and I know loads of people love it already. So maybe I was approaching it too seriously.

Elizabeth echoes our own 21st century ideas of feminism. It doesn’t really pick apart what it was like to be a woman fighting against the system in the 50s and 60s. As the story goes back to the early 50s, Elizabeth fends off a sexual assault with a pencil, and then the institution she is working at believes her side of the story. She does lose her position for it, because they needed to keep the more senior scientist for prestige, but this was the first of several events that felt like todays’ standards were applied.

The first half of the book is about her relationship with Mad’s father, a genius scientist with a tragic backstory, which you will have to read about before learning more about Elizabeth’s TV show. There is a lot about rowing, which made me nearly DNF.

Elizabeth is very fortunate in her opportunities. Beautiful, intelligent, naturally good at rowing. She does have tragedy in her life but she just wasn’t a particularly realistic character to me. It’s all idealised and problems glossed over in a jaunty tone. The story veers into serious areas such as sexual assault, suicide, homophobia and child abuse.

Her daughter, Mad, not short for Madeleine but due to a miscommunication after labour, is super intelligent, and so is their dog. The dog leaves a copy of Proust lying around to suggest the name for the kid. My dog knows lots of words, but she’s not going to leave subtle messages lying around in the form of hard to read texts.

The bit I was most excited about was just odd. Her cooking show starts off with a lesson in ionic bonds, explaining them in relation to marriage rather the food and diverging into economics. Why not start with the basic chemical reactions happening when you cook, like yeast creating carbon dioxide to create air in bread? The Maillard reaction is mentioned in passing, but we never got to hear how she would apply that to marriages…or explain its importance in cooking!

I have no idea why she wasn’t fired after the first episode, it’s one thing subtly working in your own agenda but she seemed to constantly fly in the face of what the studio wanted.

This was a funny and interesting reading. I loved the chemistry mentioned in the book and I loved how it showed the struggles a woman has to go through especially if she's in a STEM field. But even with these struggles mentioned it was a really enjoyable reading. And it made me a bit more interested rowing, at least watching it.

One of the best debut novels I've read recently is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus which is based on an incredible fictional female character called Elizabeth Zott who teaches women of her generation to expect more from their lives!

Scientist Elizabeth Zott is a beautiful young women in 1960s America. While her peers just wanted to marry well and have a family this goes totally against her desires. Elizabeth considers herself first and foremost a scientist but struggles to be taken seriously in a patriarchal society: in work she's sidelined to do administrative tasks or make coffee despite being a much better scientist than most of her colleagues. There is only one colleague who takes her seriously, Calvin Evans, a Nobel prize nominee and there is chemistry in ever sense when they meet!

Elizabeth becomes the star of a tv cookery show but she refuses to conform to the pretty housewife stereotype that the producers wants - she's very forthright in her approach and considers cooking science and teaches her audience accordingly "add a pinch of sodium chloride" but also encourages them to aspire more from their lives and chase their dreams.

It's a book about hope, found families and pushing the boundaries but I guarantee it will have you laughing out loud at parts with it's quirky humour.. I imagine this feel-good feminist themed book is going to be a runaway success when it's published!

Special shout-out to my favourite character of all, her dog Six Thirty who steals the show 🐶

Huge thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhousebooksuk for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly thank you to netgalley and randomhouse for a copy of this advance.

What a debut Bonnie Garmus has graced us with - upon finishing I immediately pre-ordered the book, it is just fantastic.

The book starts in California in 1961 - with a woman and her daughter - we rewind 10 years prior and we get a good grasp of who Elizabeth Zott is...and what a woman. She is quirky, quick-witted, smart, sassy, strong willed, and determined that she wants the female population to want more for themselves than just to be a homemaker.

Bonnie Garmus has created an amazing set of characters, ones who you can't help but love. I will be recommending to anyone who will listen

I absolutely loved this book, it is unique, original, truly refreshing and is one of my favourite books.

Firstly, Elizabeth Zott, what a woman, a true pioneer in every way. I am still thinking about her weeks after finishing the book, and the only disappointment I have with her, is that she is only a fictional character. However, it is a testament to the author that she can create a character who I both admire and want to be. Moreover, whilst Elizabeth is a fictional character, who truly embodies those women who threw off the limitations and expectations of society to begin the long path to equality (something still not fully achieved).

Set in the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott a scientist finds herself out of work when she becomes a single parent. She then becomes the host of a cookery show, and surprisingly becomes an instant hit. However, there is so much more to this book that this. The book is joyous, it is a truly feminist novel without being preachy, it heartwarming and funny and Elizabeth will stay with me for a long time.

Read this book...it is brilliant! I loved it so much I have ordered the Waterstones exclusive edition of the book which had the periodic table stencilled on the page edges. This will be one of my most treasured books.

Thank you to the author, Random House UK and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in return for a honest revoiew.

Elizabeth Zott is an unconventional female scientist in the early 1960s. But how did she end up presenting a prime-time cookery show and can she really change the world?

I got strong Still Life (Winman) vibes from this - even down to it taking a little while to get engrossed in the book and then falling in love with it.

There‘s even an intelligent dog, rather than a parrot. The characters are caricatures, but in a good way. The baddies are most definitely baddies (apart from when they're not!) and you fall in love with all of the 'good' characters.

Highly recommended.

Lessons in Chemistry introductions 1960’s housewives to the concept of applying everyday chemistry to cooking

Elizabeth Zott has two equally important defining roles, both of which she takes very seriously. She is a brilliant chemist, a rarity in the 1960’s, and she’s also a single mother to four-year-old Madeline (Mad). Having experienced great hardship and adversary in her life, and due to circumstances beyond her control, Elizabeth reluctantly accepts a job offer to host an early evening cooking show, aimed at housewives. But, just like Elizabeth herself, Supper at Six is no ordinary show. Using chemical processes, Elizabeth teaches, encourages, and inspires her audience to not only create delicious, complex, and nutritious culinary dishes, but to value and believe in their self-worth, both in and out of the kitchen.

Eloquent, beautiful, and compassionately written, Lessons in Chemistry stole my heart. I experienced a torrent of emotions while reading – happiness, amusement, anger, hate, grief, and sadness. Some parts saw me seething with rage at the ignorance and bigotry characters displayed. Other bits made me smile and jump for joy at the support, tenderness and love I witnessed. Then there were the delightfully funny lines, several of which saw me erupting into fits of laughter. Finally, there were those sections where I had to bite my lip to keep myself from crying. On one occasion I had to turn my kindle off and put it away as I was in danger of bursting into tears in a public place.

The character of Elizabeth was a true innovative leader who demanded nothing less than gender equality as she bravely and tirelessly stood her ground and fought to receive the same rights as men in every sector of her life. As you can imagine none of the above went down well with the majority of the men she encountered, and even some women, in a 1950’s and 1960’s environment, resulting in Elizabeth being viewed as odd, argumentative, disruptive, and worse, and faced sexism, belittlement, trivialisation, and abuse as a result.

There were other characters (but I’m loathe to spoil) who were just as strong, compelling, memorable and delightful, although I will mention that there was an adorable dog narrator, (yes you read that right), which I thought was one of the coolest things ever!

However, there were a couple of things which prevented this from being a 5-star read for me. This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but as much as I loved Elizabeth, her opinions were just a little too modern day I thought, almost as if she had been plucked from 2021 to land in 1962, (and there there were some other things too but I can’t give them away) meaning this read like more of a fantastical 50’s/60’s rather than an authentic one. Not that it’s not okay to do this, but I prefer my historical more on the authentic side. My second little gripe related to the long-winded descriptions of rowing, as in the sport. I felt too much time was spent on this and I ended up skimming those bits.

All up though, it was a remarkable read, as well as a pleasure. Not to mention that it was definitely in a class of its own in terms of quirkiness and uniqueness.

I’d like to thank Netgalley, Doubleday, and Bonnie Garmus for the e-ARC

Readers, set the table for the 5th April, 2022.

Lessons in Chemistry is a delightful read – the protagonist is quirky and fun, determined and eminently relatable. It balances a fine line between humour and tragedy, and is tinged with sadness that is handled skilfully and sensitively. The cast of characters are bright, funny and well-rounded – at times I found the multiple switching perspectives a little tricky to keep track of but overall an enjoyable and entertaining read!

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in the 1960s, when women in science were rare. She’s not a typical woman of the time. Through a serious of events (no spoilers here!) she ends up not getting her PHD and working on a cooking show instead!

Whilst it took me some time to really get into it once I had I couldn’t put it down! I love Elizabeth! She’s such a strong character. I can’t wait to read the next novel by the author!

I chose this book because, (as I trained as a chemist), the title interested me. To be clear, I did not expect it to be about chemistry, and - if my friends are anything to go by - I need to reassure other readers that it is not really about chemistry. It is a wonderful piece of story-telling with a fair mix of triumphs, tragedies, and humour, but with a set of very serious messages - which you can either enjoy - or ignore.
The major problem in life for the heroine is misogyny in science - and the secondary problem is her uncompromising attitude to it. The author is able to magnify these points as the book is set in the America of the early 1960s, where women do not have the brains to pursue serious careers, and when they do, must be suitably modest, and accepting of an inferior role. Although much less overt today, we know that underlying attitudes (unintentional bias at the very least) still severely limit women's success in science (and any other professional fields you care to mention). I read that the author "worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education" and suspect the book is a reflection of her experiences, first or second hand.
I notice the book's publicity blurb focuses on the central character - but the book is crammed with delightful characters - all brimming with idiosyncrasies, and who are in many ways easily as interesting as her: the precocious daughter, the abused neighbour, the vicar who doesn't believe in God, the slighted secretaries... the dog... In fact they are the real "enablers" who, through their extraordinary natures and kindnesses, give her some degree of freedom to be so fiercely determined in her outlook.
I can't recommend this book enough - like Nigella Lawson, I was sorry when it came to an end.

After a bit of a slow start, this book was great. I loved the characters, the timeline and the way the main character Elizabeth pushed the boundaries of a 1950s woman.

I definitely recommend it!

This book took a little while to get into but stick with it. It is worth it! Set in the 1950s when a woman should be in the home, cooking and looking after children; Elizabeth Zott is a scientist. The book follows her career, the discrimination, abuse, her love for Calvin and wonderful daughter and dog. A fantastic read.

I feel very privileged to have been sent an ARC of Lessons In Chemistry to read and have been absolutely blown away by the writing and the story. This was a definite love at first chapter book for me and one which I could scarcely make myself put down! Elizabeth Zott is an absolutely wonderful character – delightfully quirky and completely focused on science. The story is set in the 1950s and 60s when a woman’s place was in the kitchen and tending to the children; definitely not as a top researcher and certainly not holding or voicing any opinions which might contradict a man! Imagine! Well Elizabeth missed the memo and rather than toe the line, she carries on, pursuing her goals and when she hits obstacles she finds a way to get past them and move forward. Life is most certainly frustrating for her, she is denied opportunities and experiences some terrible events, sadly not just at the hands of men.

By chance, Elizabeth meets Calvin and a beautiful relationship and meeting of minds is born. Calvin respects Elizabeth as the scientist she is and champions her and her work. He is considered unusual but because of his academic brilliance he is tolerated by his colleagues. The pair are the subject of gossip and jealous words but this doesn’t really phase them at all. They bring out the best and challenge each other. The chemistry is most definitely there!

I am not going to describe any more of the plot as there is so much and I don’t think you need to know anymore about it – rather get your copy and savour the beautiful story which unfolds. It is a proper rollercoaster of emotion, I laughed, wept, felt anger and joy as I read, alongside dozen of other emotions. I was invested in Elizabeth’s story and I wish it hadn’t had to end (although I imagine Bonnie might not want to spend the rest of her life writing the same character)! Elizabeth is a champion for anyone who is mistreated, mocked or overlooked because they happen to have the audacity to have XX chromosomes or have interests which aren’t “the norm.” She is an inspirational character and I loved her!

Lessons In Chemistry is due to be released in April 2022 and I hope that everyone loves it as much as I do!

Loved this book with its unusual characters and wry humour. Very true depiction of how life was for women in the early 50s, where dual standards and religion were oppressive. Would love a sequel.

I loved this book! At times I was angry, sad, laughing out loud or beaming with joy. The story very cleverly covers the discrimination and abuse that women faced in every aspect of their lives, weaving the up and downs of Elizabeth Zott's career between layers of love, grief and beauty.