I'm always a little wary of over-hyped books, and I'd been seeing Lessons in Chemistry around the BookTwitter/Bookstagram sphere A LOT. However, I needn't have worried, because reading it was an absolute blast.

Elizabeth Zott is an amazing main character. She is smart and confident, resilient in the face of adversity, principled and willing to fight for what she believes in. And boy, does she have to fight. I absolutely adored Elizabeth's poise and ability to stay true to herself, resisting all her colleagues' attempts at intimidating her or making her believe she should be less than she is.

While Elizabeth is fantastic and I could spend a long, long time talking about her only, she is surrounded by an equally amazing cast of supporting characters. Some I loved, some I hated, others I mildly disliked, but all of them were beautifully characterised and enriched the story immensely. Even some of the more minor characters felt wholly rounded and reading about them was a thing of beauty. I particularly loved Elizabeth's dog, Six-Thirty, and the passages in his POV were some of the best ever.

The writing is another thing I really appreciated here, and I'm really impressed with how the author managed to build such an emotionally rich story on the foundation of a critique of society while tackling equality issues. Despite the fact that some of the themes could be quite heavy, the tone always felt perfectly appropriate and I loved the humourous, zingy quality it had. In some ways, it reminded me of Jonas Jonasson's The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared in its ability to stimulate the reader's critical reflection skills through humour.

Lessons in Chemistry was a wonderful discovery and one of the times when, for me, the hype was right! It made me laugh, cry, feel, think, and want to take action while leaving me feeling light and with my heart full: all the hallmarks of a great book. One not to miss.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful witty book, very different, but fun with quirky intelligent charachters. definitely a recommended read.

I have mixed feelings about Lessons in Chemistry. Needless to say it’s a very witty book and quite clever in parts. The best thing about it, it has to be said, is that a main character is a dog and somehow this is pulled off in a realistic way(!)

While the dialectical issues that kept recurring throughout the story frustrated me by being too black and white, they tended to round themselves out and show the greys of these issues more towards the end. Only, I still found reading about them frustrating and this distracted me from being able to enjoy the book thoroughly. Namely the blatant sexism which I suppose was accurate for the time period (late 1950s early 60s), but still maddeningly annoying. After the first 100 or so pages it did pick up and I would definitely say I managed to get into it and enjoy it enough to finish. It also gets you thinking and was even inspiring in parts. A solid 3 star read.

“What I love about rowing […] is that it’s always done backwards. It’s almost as if the sport itself is trying to teach us to not get ahead of ourselves.”

What an absolute gem and a strong contender for debut novel of the year!

Meet Elizabeth Zott. Scientist, mother, lover, rower, she never settles for anything.

Whilst navigating through Elizabeth’s challenges, Bonnie Garmus very wittily paint a portrait of what it was like to be a woman in the 60s, through the eyes of different generations, from Elizabeth to her daughter Madeline, from her dog Six-Thirty to Dr Mason or Father Wakely.

Each character is a window to different ways of thinking; to prejudices that Elizabeth is intent on fighting.

Strong, uncompromising, inspirational, you are bound to fall in love with this force of nature. If I’d been one of her contemporary, I would definitely have wanted to be like her, to share her values.

Teaching hundreds of words to her dog, encouraging free speech and thinking for her daughter, sky is the limit for Elizabeth Zott. She thrives to use science to fix humanity, she simply cannot accept the established order of civilisation. She can’t accept those archaic, outrageous and misogynistic ways of life, stereotypes and biases that society keeps on perpetuating.

“When a boat succeeds, it’s because the people in the boat have managed to set aside their petty differences and physical discrepancies and row as one. Perfect harmony”.

Whether it’s at work, in her love life with Calvin, or with her few friends, she simply is implacable and uncompromising. It all comes down to chemistry. As a result, men fear and despise her, women envy and resent her, but she simply can’t let anyone dictate how to go about her life.

“People need to believe in something bigger than themselves”

When you don’t fit in, you either comply and compromise, or you stand your ground. When she gets her own cooking show on TV, revolutionising the « Afternoon Depression Zone », her fierceness and intransigent nature will, in spite of herself, empower thousands of women to believe in themselves, to understand their worth, to take back some control.

This book is a triumph! So compelling, thought provoking, it will challenge you to question subjects you didn’t even know you had to! Philosophical at times, full of clever and subtle thoughts on tough subjects, it will make your brain and your soul sense so many emotions: anger, rage, happiness, sadness, you laugh, you cry but love so much. It is pure joy!

I can’t stop thinking about it, this book is powerful, gripping, endearing, you have got to get yourself a copy.

Lessons in Chemistry is a wonderful wonderful read. Elizabeth is a genius chemist who is constantly gaslighted and overlooked by her male colleagues. In recognition of her talent, she gets a tv show called Supper at Six, a la Julia Child. It is a bully pulpit she uses to empower the women of America. It's funny, it's moving, it's awesome.

Absolutely loved this book!!!
Set in the 1960's, this book is about Elizabeth Zott, a chemist (but not a real one because she's a woman) and the discriminations she faces as a woman despite her brilliance and that men secretly come to her for professional advice.
She's incredibly fierce and stands up for herself in a way a lot of women probably felt like but don't have the strength due to the misogyny and sexism they would face if they did.
Despite her best efforts not to, Elizabeth falls in love with an equally brilliant fellow chemist Calvin who just totally gets her even the much frowned upon live in relationship they have instead of being married.
Then along comes Six-thirty, a dog whose vocabulary is expanding with his understanding. He has acute observation of the situation and a humor to match- if only he could talk but his position in the book makes him invaluable.
Then just as life couldn't be more perfect, Everything changes. Elizabeth finds herself sacked from her job (unfairly) and needing to work, takes a job on a cookery show because as well as being a brilliant chemist, she is a brilliant cook as well. Elizabeth, being Elizabeth doesn't follow the rules and dresses in a tight dress and makes cocktails as the producer would like her to- thank goodness, but instead shows that cooking is chemistry and unwittingly empowers women along the way.
Elizabeth is a likeable character and I would probably assume with her brilliance and individual way of seeing the world, she is probably has level 1 ASD.
This book is laugh out loud and emotional and high lights sexism and misogyny occurring at many levels. Have things really changed that much? Maybe people are less obvious about misogyny now........
Brilliant book for general fiction readers especially women's fiction. would definitely recommend and read another Bonnie Garmus book.
Many thanks
to #NetGalley, Random House UK and Transworld Publishers for this preview read.
#LessonsinChemistry.

This was undoubtedly my favourite book of the year so far! i bought a physical copy as soon as it came out!

Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott as her career trajectory takes her from chemist to TV personality.

i adored reading Zott. She was very headstrong and she always acted in a very typical to her way. One of the most believable characters I have read.

The dog in this book, Six-Thirty was an absolute scene stealer and his inner monologue made me teary eyed on multiple occasions.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a review copy.

Firstly, what a gorgeous cover. Was immediately drawn to it. The contents did not disappoint. Elizabeth is a strong woman, but I wouldn’t call her a feminist. She simply doesn’t let inequality and the prejudice she faces get in her way. She doesn’t ask you to root for her but you will anyway.

So many readers are raving about this book right now, and I’m afraid I’m going to have to add my voice in agreement and further confirm how fantastic it is. Loved everything about Elizabeth Zott and her fabulously sharp daughter Mad, though have to admit the treatment they frequently receive from society wasn’t so great for my blood pressure! Charming, infuriating, insightful and so very funny in equal measure, this is a book that every generation of women (and everyone else!) should read. Brilliant stuff.

I loved this book, so totally different from anything I've read before. In premise it is a very simple story line but delivered so beautifully, with such attention to the characters and the detail that it feels totally realistic and believable. I feel as though this is a real character that must have existed in this time rather and as thought I'm reading a biography rather than a novel but in a good way. I'm sure we'll be seeing this on screen soon. Thoroughly enjoyable

Sometimes you just have to believe the hype. A debut novel - which is mad to realise one you start reading it - about a woman far ahead of her time. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist, a highly talented chemist, who her colleagues refuse to listen to - as she is a woman. It's the early 1960s and not many people understand Elizabeth & her unique ways. Everyone aside from Calvin Exans, who is as different as Elizabeth - the same kind of different. Years later Elizabeth is now the host of a cooking show, using her knowledge of chemistry to teach women how to cook - but also, just maybe, helping them change their lives.
As I was reading this book I kept thinking how much I'm already looking forward to a film adaptation - it's so cinematic in scope and written so well that it's so easy to visualise. Quirky if oft-viewed as an insult, but it really isn't in this instance. The perfect book for fans of Mad Men, Julia Child and Hidden Figures.

Elizabeth Zott is my new literacy hero.

A gifted chemist at a time where a womans place was the kitchen.

The most endearing child who is probably the best secondary character I've come across all year.

A love story, a sad story.

I have so many feelings but wow, I immediately want to read it all again.

We open with someone called Elizabeth Zott popping handwritten notes into her daughter’s lunch box some time in the 1960s. But Elizabeth isn’t your run-of-the-mill 1960s housewife (and she’d contend there’s no such thing) and her daughter Mad has benefited from a scientific training which has left her a second-generation uncomfortable genius not fitting in well at school. Add in a kindly neighbour whose life they change and a dog called Six Thirty who has an extensive vocabulary but no way to express it (and is still there at the end, phew!), and you’ve got a lovely cast of characters to follow through the book.

This is a bit of a #MeToo book, even though obviously the movement hadn’t been coined when it was set. We follow Elizabeth from school through to university, where her perceived oddness, bluntness and scientific exactness mean she’s a fairly lone soul. She can see the sexism in academia but is powerless to change it (this is illustrated by a pretty shocking scene of assault: this is not a cutesy easy read by any means), and she also finds this when she starts to work in a research institute.

Not keen to have children, who she knows will mess up your career, Elizabeth ends up with Mad but without the love of her life, Calvin, the also probably neurodiverse scientist who sees her scientific but also romantic value. Resourceful to the last, I love that she builds a lab at home out of her kitchen, while pregnant, and then we get lots of details of how she uses that lab as a kitchen.

When she’s on the point of leaving the lab for a second time, driven down by her sexist boss, she’s weirdly headhunted by Walter, a TV producer who needs someone to fill an afternoon slot and thinks she’s just the person to teach the nation’s women how to cook. So she does – but she also teaches the nation’s women how to think, do chemistry and value themselves, while fighting against the expectations from the bosses on how she will comport herself.

Meanwhile, female solidarity builds between both Elizabeth and her former enemy, the HR executive from the research institute and Harriet, the motherly neighbour with a horrible husband. This was a lovely theme and really well done. We can add to these themes a mystery about Calvin’s origins which is unpicked and solved by his resourceful daughter – this novel is packed full of incident but there’s plenty of room for character and it’s a feel-good read (with some wincey bits) that I heartily recommend.

My review here 3 May https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2022/05/03/book-review-bonnie-garmus-lessons-in-chemistry/

Elizabeth Zott, Calvin and their daughter Madeline (Mad), what a trio to be reckoned with. With their scientific background they see the formula, calculation and result of chemical data but have an innocence regarding real life. Both Elizabeth and Calvin have had traumatic and devastating upbringings when they meet they intrigue one another. After misunderstandings they finally form a blissfully happy couple much to the annoyance of their colleagues. Jealousy, rivalry and dishonesty are part of the culture at the workplace.
Following an accident Elizabeth is left alone and grieving, after never wanting children the arrival of Mad with the help of neighbour Harriet gives her a purpose in life and some happiness.
This is a story of women's struggle to be recognised in the scientific world, a faithfully dog and a child who uncovers the truth.
I read this at the same time as watching Julia, a programme about Julia child's cookery show, Elizabeth also presents a science based cookery show

This book is eye opening and I absolutely loved it! As a female scientist I was so so excited to read that and it was everything I hoped it would be and more! Elizabeth Zott is such a fantastic character and Bonnie has written her incredibly well. The book will shock you but is so interesting to read about perception in the 60s. The enemies to lovers story will suck you in and make you fall in love with this book. I have no words to do this book justice and Bonnie Garmus has written such an amazing book! I’ll be purchasing this for so many people as presents, the physical copy looks stunning too!

This was a perfectly likeable book, the writing was smart and zippy and the story had charm. Ironically though, for me it just didn't have the chemistry to turn it into a great book. Elizabeth Zott was an interesting character but I never felt I got an actual handle on her - she felt more like a hook to hang the themes off than a real person - I much preferred some of the supporting roles, in particular Six-Thirty and Harriet. Similarly, I never really felt the great love story between Elizabeth and Calvin. I kept waiting for the real story to kick in. The themes were interesting and the juxtaposition of a very modern sensibility about feminist issues and the historical setting was thought-provoking. I liked the fact that Garmus lobbed quite hard hitting themes of abuse, sexual assault (and occasional bad language) into a book that was otherwise quite cosy. A clever idea written by a very likeable author but for me she never quite pulled it off. I have high hopes for future books of hers though.

I loved this book. It gave a modern take on the 1960s whilst still staying true to the era. The characters are multi faceted and interesting. The writing is unique although the formatting of the arc makes it difficult to separate different sections of text.
A great book to read that I think will become very popular soon.

I loved this book! So much I bought it before getting round to reading it on NetGalley!

Lovely descriptions of love and feminism in a man’s world. Loved the characters. Made me laugh, made me cry!

Absolutely loved this book. It was so witty and funny. But it wasnt only fun.. The author wrote about issues concerning women in the 1950s and 1960s that unfortunately are still very much a problem. There was some darkness in the book and I found myself tearing up couple times as well.
All the main characters were very lovable and I couldn't get enough of them.

I have been seeing SO much about this book and was excited to finally get the chance to dive into it over my Easter holidays.

Lessons In Chemistry is set during the 1960’s. Elizabeth Zott works in a lab at Hastings Research Institute with an all-male team who takes an unscientific approach to equality. Zott meets Calvin Evans and they fall in love. Life takes an unpredictable turn and Zott finds herself as the host of a cooking show, Supper At Six. Her unusual, chemistry led, approach to cooking 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.

This book!!!!! Oh my god I was not expecting to be as hooked as I was. I genuinely could not put it down. I loved everything about it: the plot, the characters… everything about it was incredible. Elizabeth is a phenomenal protagonist who just captivated me from the very start. I also loved Mad and the dog, Six-Thirty too.

Garmus really brings that ‘60s era of inequality to life, and particularly in the male-dominated field of science. She explores feminism, grief, science, religion, relationships and motherhood, among other things.

She does such a good job of keeping the reader’s attention. 400 pages and I was so sad when I finished this book. I didn’t want it to end. I can’t believe this is a debut.

It was an absolute joy to read. A funny, thought-provoking and gripping read all in one. I can see why this has caught the attention of so many people. I can not rave about this enough. It has shot right up there to one of my favourite reads of the year so far. Highly highly recommend.

Massive thank you to NetGalley & publishers for allowing me to read this ARC.