It's the 1960s, and the tv show Supper at Six has taken America by storm. Women across the country absolutely love Supper at Six mainly because of its host, Elizabeth Zott. Despite the show's success and her own celebrity, Elizabeth never wanted this life. Elizabeth is a chemist by trade, and one of the smartest chemists in the country. Prior to hosting her own cooking show, Elizabeth was employed at Hastings Research Institute where she faced intense sexism as the science field is dominated by men while women are expected to be housewives - not chemists. Because of this, Elizabeth's work has been undermined, disrespected, and even stolen. But Elizabeth isn't the kind of person who lets oppressive, sexist structures deter her work, which gets her noticed by Nobel-prize nominated chemist, Calvin Evans. After Elizabeth marches into Calvin's lab one day to take some beakers, it's clear the two have chemistry. But, like science, life can be unpredictable which is how Elizabeth ends up leaving Hastings and hosting a cooking show. So Elizabeth, in her own unique way, uses her new platform to her advantage. Through cooking, Elizabeth teaches viewers, predominately housewives, the science and chemistry behind cooking while pushing for social justice and equity in a time of intense sexist, racist, antiquated status quos.


Elizabeth Zott is a trailblazer in Lessons in Chemistry - she is a trailblazer archetype who is bold, brazen, confident, and wise. I think it's been a while since I read a story about a character like Elizabeth, and she's definitely someone who I would love to see in another book whether she's a main character or supporting. Alongside Elizabeth are a handful of other heartfelt, inspiring characters like her dog, Six-Thirty (who surprisingly has a lot to say), her daughter, Mad, neighbor and bestfriend, Harriet, supervisor/confidant, Walter, and many more. Lessons in Chemistry is incredibly fiery and sassy while giving readers a lot to consider. And from a debut book, no less! My only slight critique of this book is the almost-rambling side plots; I enjoyed the side plots, but occasionally they dragged on a little too much and would occasionally take away from the story. I think what stood out to me the most was the messaging behind Lessons in Chemistry: there is a lot of emphasis on being true to oneself while supporting and respecting others regardless of societal positionality, which is a message I fully support and work to embrace in today's society. Moreover, it made me consider how far American society has come since the 1960s as well as how much further we need to go. For me the quality of a book is based on its ability to thought-provoke, and Lessons in Chemistry truly made me think and invest in its story. I would highly recommend reading Lessons in Chemistry if you're a fan of historical fiction, quirky side plots, and insightful character development.


5/5


Thank you, Knopf Doubleday Publishing, for an advanced copy of Lessons in Chemistry in exchange for an honest review.

What a lovely surprise ! I can't believe that I got to read this so early in the release. I just know that there will be hype x 1000 about this book. I listened to the audio.
The casting is perfect. This is 3rd person POV, and it switches around- to Elizabeth, to Calvin, to the dog..... wait what?! Yes, 6:30 is a wonderful character. I would say a key supporting character, if not a main character.6:30 is a key to many of the plot directions.
There a so many subtle dry, sly lines. Some humorous, ironic, sad. A lot of ah ha!-type scenes.
I love "Mad" she is a true wunderkind, but still such a cutie. I loved her.
I could on and on, but I think a reader and/or listener needs to experience this just as it unfolds.
It might seem to start off slowly, but the early parts- ie with Calvin, really built on to the next part and the next....
Of course, Elizabeth Zott is the star. At times, it seems like she just could not catch a break. Elizabeth could not be stopped.
I'm so happy that I found this gem. So unique. I've never experienced a book quite like this. I do want to buy the physical copy so I can highlight the heck out of it.
Plus! I want to read it again!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an early read of Lessons In Chemistry. Set in the 1950’s and 1960’s, this is the story of Elizabeth Zott, a chemist trying to make her way in a man’s world. She is part of a research team at a company called Hastings in Commons, CA. She is clearly the smartest one on the team, but spends her days being mistaken for the secretary and having men take her ideas and claim them as their own. One day, she enters the lab of Hastings star employee, Calvin Evans, to borrow some beakers for her underfunded project. There are sparks – chemistry, shall we say- and before long the two of them are inseparable. He treats her as an equal and sees her, a first in her life – is it no wonder that she falls in love. But things don’t go as planned and she finds herself alone, pregnant, and unemployed (because she is unmarried and pregnant). With no other options to support her and her daughter Mad, she ends up hosting an afternoon cooking show called Supper At Six – however, she does it in her own unusual way, by teaching her viewers about the chemistry behind cooking and food. Elizabeth is estranged from her own family, but her found family are one of the reasons why this book is so good – her neighbor Harriet, her boss, her doctor and rowing mentor, her dog Six Thirty and her small but already brilliant daughter Mad. Elizabeth is smart, funny (though not intentionally), and has a heart bigger than she thinks. And she is a woman ahead of her time, leading a revolution with her cooking show. It made me think of those books about the hidden history of women – like Hidden Figures, or Fly Girls – or the books by authors like Marie Benedict. Elizabeth being fictional doesn’t change what she represents – and the book shows us where we once were, and how far we still need to go.

WOW as a woman in STEM, this book was felt so deep in my core. I loved this representation that we so often do not receive. This book follows chemist Elizabeth Zott in the late 1950's and early 1960's where she is trying to overcome the status quo and be seen as a woman chemist when woman are typically seen as belonging in the kitchen, not making any splash. I loved how warm, kind and brilliant Elizabeth is and how hard she worked to make her name. I loved the found family in this book as well. This was an accurate representation of life in this time, and while I was expecting a happy ending, it could have been predicted how this story would end.

I really loved this. Elizabeth Zott is a great character and I love a quirky story that feels true.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the 60s setting and I loved the role that chemistry and food played in the book.. it was very funny and fun and I was texting lines to friends as u read it.

Getting to know Elizabeth Zott was such a fun time! I really enjoyed this author’s style of humor and I couldn’t believe this was a debut novel. I feel like others have summed up my thoughts on this better than I can but I had a really good time with this book and it’s just BEGGING for a miniseries adaptation

Enjoyed this one!
I thought it was going to be more about the daughter maturing, and it was, but it was also more!

I loved the premise for this book - a woman chemist in the 60’s fighting to make her voice heard as the only woman on her team in an incredibly male-dominated field.

However, my excitement didn’t quite live up to the realIty. I got a bit lost at times which I think is due to the fact that I only had the audio. This was told from multiple perspectives and at times it took me a minute to reorient myself when there was a perspective change.

There were lots of humorous moments in the book, especially surrounding the cooking show she is hosting, and I found myself laughing out loud a few times.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC and Penguin Random House for an ALC of this book.

I reviewed this funny and devastating debut novel for BookPage. Here's the beginning of the review:

When people reminisce about America’s “good old days,” they’re often envisioning the idyllic post-World War II period of the 1950s: between V-E Day and the beginning of the Vietnam War, a booming time of power and prosperity. Like a woman-centric “Mad Men,” Bonnie Garmus’ devastating and funny debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, blows the lid off that simplistic myth.

Budding research scientist Elizabeth Zott is brilliant, awkward and laser-focused on her studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, but neither her male colleagues nor the other women on campus take her seriously. Between her beauty and her gender, consensus dictates that Elizabeth should be aiming for an “MRS” degree instead of a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Nevertheless, Elizabeth insists on bucking tradition, thwarting rules both written and unwritten, never allowing her progress to be curtailed by other people’s agendas. As the child of high-level grifters (a dangerous doomsday preacher and a tax cheat), Elizabeth learned how to fend for herself early on. But at UCLA, one man’s unchecked violence and abuse of power derail her plans, a devastating yet all-too-familiar turn of events.

This novel promised quirky and delivered in full. It also brought heartache, fury, frustration, and sweet, sweet revenge.

This novel was a pleasure to read. The social commentary was much more pronounced than I'd expected it to be. I loved the scientist turned television host a nice plot device. I could see this being made into a film or tv series.

Just adored this book! The publisher describes this novel as being about a female chemist named Elizabeth Zott in the 1950s and 60s who sort of accidentally becomes the host of a cooking show - and while that’s true, that just doesn’t really capture all of what this book is - a charming and marvelous character novel which made me feel all the emotions - from laughing at the things characters said, inspired by the book’s feminist message, angry at the sexism and misogyny Elizabeth experiences, sad at some tragic things that happened, all the way back to happy at this great story. Elizabeth is an indelible character, but the book is full of other wonderful quirky characters too, including one of the best dog characters ever.

I can also see why the Good Morning America Book Club chose this one, as it definitely would be a good book club pick.

I seriously couldn’t put this one down and stayed up way too late two nights in a row reading it. Even though this just came out, everyone has been raving about it and I can totally see why! Just a unique and wonderful novel that I highly recommend! 4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advanced copy! This book is so amazing and delightful, I can barely get over it. Just like the viewers of Elizabeth's cooking show, I found myself enraptured by her chemistry lessons and the way she used her platform to empower women. The love stories were very sweet and I loved how fate surprisingly brought a lot of the characters together. Plus, you get the point of view of the dog :)

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is a must read. It's my favorite of 2022 so far. This historical fiction takes place in the 50s-60s and follows the life of Elizabeth Zott, a chemist who refuses to fit into societal norms. Zott has worked tireless to pursue her academic career and establish a name for her self through her love of science specially chemistry. Zott falls in love with Calvin Evans another chemist, whom she refuses to marry because in doing so she will lose her name and her research and just become Mrs. Calvin Evans.
What I loved about Garmus' debut novel is the thought provoking theme of endurance and women empowerment. The novel is filled with heartbreak and setbacks but also hope and love. Highly recommend as a must read.
I want to thank Netgalley and Doubleday publishing for allowing me to read this breathtaking novel in exchange for an honest review.

Such an inspiring story reminding each of us our worth is not determined by others. Elizabeth Zott was a fantastic role model for perseverance and loyalty.

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.

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist and single mother who unexpectedly and reluctantly ends up the television host of a wildly popular cooking show for housewives in the early 60s due to limited opportunities. Elizabeth is an admirable character easily cheered for who refuses to be bound by the limitations society places on her sex and subversively inspires other women to understand their worth and potential using science and cooking as a conduit. Filled with a cast of loveable characters who comprise a found family, including an incredibly endearing and brilliant dog (his points of view were some of my favorite parts!)

I found Lessons in Chemistry fresh and readable, though it does present complex concepts (feminism, sexism, misogyny) in an overly simplistic way. This story has enough heart and humor that I'm willing to look past the lack of nuance and accept it for what it is: entertaining.

Do be aware of content warnings if that's something you like a head's up on. For a lighthearted story it does contain instances of rape, sexual harassment, adoption, death, and suicide.

Lessons in Chemistry
Author, Bonnie Garmus
Pub date: 4.5.22

Thank you @doubledaybooks and @netgalley for my e- arc of this fantastic debut! I loved it so much that I had to buy a finished copy! Another @gmabookclub pick and now a New York Times bestseller!

I loved chemist Elizabeth Zott's story so much! She is intelligent, witty, resourceful, brave, daring, resilient, and an absolute inspiration! In the early 60's, women in science are unheard of- the status quo for a woman is to be at home managing the household, making, dinner, and caring for the children. But Elizabeth is no status quo woman, nor does she believe any other woman should be...

At Hasting Research Institute, where Elizabeth fights just to have a seat at the table, she meets the Nobel Prize- nominated, lonely, quiet, and brilliant, Calvin Evans, and the two have instant chemistry and fall in love. A few months later, Elizabeth finds herself pregnant and alone and shut out from the world. Desperate, she agrees to star in Supper at Six, a cooking show with a scientific twist. Elizabeth shines and inspires her female audience, daring them and herself to be brave, reach their potential, and follow their dreams. After all, chemistry is change. And although change requires courage, "change is what we're chemically designed to do."

Filled with wisdom, inspiration, and emotion, Lessons in Chemistry "is not just an introduction to chemistry... it's a thirty- five- minute, five- day- a- week lesson in life. And not in who we are or what we're made of, but rather, who we're capable of becoming."

I found this book somewhat disappointing. Garmus possesses talent as a writer but I feel her execution was lacking.

I felt a high level of frustration with Elizabeth - a highly intelligent woman who lacks common sense along with social awkwardness. I would have enjoyed Elizabeth much more if she wasn’t so stereotypically flawed which I find annoying. Why does every intelligent woman suffer negative defect(s) in some form? Let her shine in her intelligence for once. The constant man-bashing grated my nerves. The entire plot felt preposterous despite addressing serious issues. Mad was way over the top with her precociousness. A few of the historical references did not occur in 1955, truly I did not pick up a 1955 vibe all, era felt later in my opinion. I also didn’t find a whole lot of humor, however, I did enjoy Six-Thirty, frankly the best part of the entire book.

Entertaining read but I did expect more and that’s where the problem begins. What I read was not what I was expecting at all. I would read another effort from Garmus, I feel she has the gift of writing and I hope the next project truly highlights her gift from beginning to end.

What a beautiful book full of power, feminism, brilliance, humor, cooking and chemistry! A book that made me think and laugh. And at times it broke my heart. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I'm convinced this'll be one of my favorite reads of the year already and there was so much I loved about this book. However, I recommend checking out the TWs before starting it.

I could gush about this book for hours, but here are some of my highlights:

I loved the main character, Elizabeth Zott! She was incredibly smart, independent, head strong, and socially clueless. She understands the world through science and applies that to all aspects of her life. I found her very relatable. This book is feminist first and foremost. Zott is ahead of her time in her views and her social cluelessness even helps her at times to be blind to some of the slights she receives. I loved how Zott used cooking, chemistry, and knowledge to empower women everywhere via her show. I loved that she didn't dumb anything down, didn't bite back words, she was always her authentic self.

Lessons in Chemistry does not sugarcoat being a woman in science in 50s and 60s. I found a lot of these scenes difficult to read and heartbreaking but also quite realistic.

There's also some discourse on religion and faith in the book. Zott is quite the rationalist, and I found this so refreshing as an agnostic. These discussions were always logical and never disrespectful against having faith which I also appreciated.

There are a lot of assholes in this book, but there are also some fantastic characters. I especially loved Elizabeth Zott's ever growing found family. The people that really love her and have her back But the dog Six Thirty really stole the show. The best book dog I've read in a long while. I loved that we got his POV at times as well, and how influential he was in their lives. Him and Zott's daughter Mad much cuteness!

Speaking of Six Thirty's POV, I liked how the book was written in general. It jumped around across many perspectives and timelines, bAut never got confusing. It actually made for a delightful literary experience as well.

Despite the heavier topics covered in the book, overall I found this to be an inspiring, encouraging, heartwarming and hopeful book.

Thank you so much to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this wholly amazing read.