This was Barnes and Noble’s book of the year! There’s a good reason this book was named book of the year. This book has everything. If you like historical fiction set in the 1950’s and 60’s you are in for a treat. The main character was a chemist and of course the man took credit for her formulas. She turned her life around and reinvented herself.

I was actually very surprised by the beginning of this novel. It had a much more dramatic beginning than I anticipated based on things I had read and heard about it previously. I think it is probably a very true scenario for women at that time, especially women going into very male dominated fields. But the issues she faces at the beginning are harder than what I expected and it made me not sure if I wanted to continue reading.

In the end, it's a very inspiring story.

Although I have had access to this book since its 2022 release, for some unknown reason I have not read it until now. I wanted to read the book before the streaming series is released this fall. I am sorry now that I waited so long to enjoy this wonderful, delightful book! Elizabeth Zott is a woman to be admired and copied, although at times difficult to live with. Her life is extraordinary, her family situation unique, her mind amazing. I laughed, I cried, and I experienced all other feelings in between as I read about Elizabeth, Calvin, Mad, Six-Thirty, and everyone else who helps to tell this incredibly unusual story. Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for providing an ARC.

Is this book worth the hype? Yes.
Garmus lists so many standard, every day issues for women in this book. The main character may be a chemist - but these experiences were not just limited to women working in a man's field.
Elizabeth's best trait - her unfailing resolve to keep going. Just ignore all the crap and keep living your dream. She had so much unspoken strength.
Harriet was an amazing character - I loved how her life had purpose by helping Elizabeth. And her daughter - being raised to be herself. Lovely.
Highly recommend.

I loved reading this book, it was very entertaining! I thought the narrative style was so unique and engaging. I've seen some reviews saying people liked the first half better than the second, but I think I feel the opposite. Overall this was a great experience and I highly recommend for a truly thoughtful and entertaining read!

After hearing all of the glowing reviews for Lessons in Chemistry, I wanted to like it *so much.* As hard as I tried, I couldn't connect with the voice and the way the narrative unfolded. I kept having to pause and backtrack, which was a bit distracted. Given that this book is beloved by so many other people, I'm clearly an outlier. Hopefully the author's next book will be a stronger fit for me.

Lessons in Chemistry was an absolute delight! It's a mixture of several different elements - historical, science-y, mysterious, feminist. And all the elements combined to create something truly spectacular. Elizabeth and her whole family are inherently engaging, heartwarming, and readable. I highly recommend this one!

Lively, heartbreaking, and wonderful historical fiction. Would appeal to all sexes. Is in the top ten of all books I've read.

"There's a dog. His name is Six Thirty. He MAKES the story and he doesn't die!" - my favorite thing to say when recommending to customers

I saw this book everywhere, and I loved it so much!!
It was hilarious, heartwarming, bold, and intelligent.

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t actually have an undergrad or had to leave before she got her Masters; she is a chemist. When she meets Calvin Evans, and he mistakes her for a secretary, this does not bode well for a relationship between them. However, before long, their shared interests and mutual quirkiness lead them to fall in love.

But when Calvin is in a tragic accident, and Elizabeth is left to raise the child neither of them planned for, it seems like her dreams of research are lost.

Then she accidentally becomes the host of a cooking show where she encourages women to follow their dreams and cook a nutritious dinner. But can she really focus on her own dreams?

Lessons in Chemistry is the perfect reading slump-buster, at least to me. I had been reading stacks of things but not seeming to enjoy any of it. This story about a single mom and her found family dealing with the issues regarding sexism and social norms that our society still struggles with today really spoke to me. It is funny and feels easy/breezy even though there is very clever and stealthy work happening here.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the ARC!!

One of my favorite reads of the year. Historical fiction that gives you a highlight of issues women faced in the 1950’s.
This heartwarming, funny, light and dark. Elizabeth Zott is my hero!

Thank you NetGalley!

This book is so well written. It made me very happy to see a female portrayed in this light. Girl power is real!

4.5 stars

You might think a book about chemists couldn't be comical, but you'd be wrong. This novel is wildly original and laugh-out-loud funny.

In 1952 twentysomething Elizabeth Zott is a chemist at Hastings Research Institute in California. Like many women of the era, Elizabeth is patronized by the men she works with, who can't wrap their minds around accomplished females. It would help if Elizabeth had a Ph.D. but she was expelled from the doctoral program at UCLA after her advisor, Dr. Meyers, assaulted her. The school had no intention of losing a renowned professor - even if he was a rapist - and it was bye bye Elizabeth. Luckily, Elizabeth was able to sink a number-two pencil into Meyers' side during the assault, and she always carried a pencil from that day on.

At Hastings Elizabeth is relegated to a small poorly equipped lab, and needing beakers, she hopes to acquire some from Calvin Evans. Evans is a world famous chemist who's been nominated for a Nobel Prize, and he rates a large geared up laboratory.

When Elizabeth goes to ask Calvin for beakers, he makes the huge mistake of calling her a secretary, and suggesting she get her boss to call him. When Calvin realizes his mistake he tries to make amends, but Elizabeth - who has no use for men who view women as 'less' - blows him off.

It's not until several weeks later, when Calvin inadvertently vomits on Elizabeth, that a friendship begins to develop.... and love follows soon afterwards. Almost everyone at Hastings is jealous of the newly minted couple because Calvin is renowned and Elizabeth is beautiful. This makes the duo the target of constant surveillance and gossip.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Calvin reside in their own romantic bubble. They eat delicious homemade lunches every day, discuss chemistry ad infinitum, and because Calvin is famous even get to bring their dog, Six-Thirty, to work.

Six-Thirty is easily my favorite character. He's a super-smart pooch who knows hundreds of words, is an excellent judge of character, and - with goggles on - even helps with chemistry experiments.

Fate intervenes, and some years later Elizabeth is the single mother of a gifted precocious daughter named Mad (Madeline). Elizabeth is also the host of a television cooking show called 'Supper at Six' on KCTV. The station's executive producer, Phil Lebensmal, wants Elizabeth to wear sexy tight dresses and make cocktails, but Elizabeth scoffs at this. On her first show, Elizabeth wears a drab dress with buttons down to the hem, a stark white multipocketed apron, a pair of goggles on her head, and a number-two pencil over her left ear.

On each episode, Elizabeth talks about the chemistry of cooking, and she often encourages her viewers (largely women) to follow their dreams. After one show, Mad and Six-Thirty overhear two women talking:

"Correct me if I'm wrong Sheila," asks one woman, "but didn't she say cast iron requires zero-point-one-one calories of heat to raise the temperature of a single gram of atomic mass by one degree Celsius?"

"That's right, Elaine,' the other said. " That's why I'm buying a new skillet."

The book has many interesting secondary characters, including: Mrs. Harriet Sloane - a neighbor who helps Elizabeth with young Mad; Dr. Donatti - the creepy self-serving Director of Chemistry at Hastings; Mrs. Mudford - Mad's Kindergarten teacher, who gets furious when Mad requests Norman Mailer's 'The Naked and the Dead' from the school librarian; Dr. Mason - an obstetrician and crew captain who wants Elizabeth to row on his men's team; Walter Pine - a producer at KCTV who once, in a haze of exhaustion, packed his kindergartner's lunch box with a stapler instead of a sandwich, a script instead of a napkin, and a gin flask where the milk thermos was supposed to go; Reverend Wakely - a pastor who helps Mad with a family tree assignment; Miss Frask - a secretary from Personnel at Hastings whose spiteful jealousy gets Elizabeth fired; and more.

I was hoping to see the women come out on top in this book, and I wasn't disappointed.

Lessons in Chemistry is a New York Times Bestseller; Barnes and Nobles Book of the Year for 2022; a Goodreads Choice Award Winner; and a best book of the year for many news publications.

I completely enjoyed this novel and would encourage all book lovers to read it.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bonnie Garmus, and Doubleday for a copy of the manuscript.

Elizabeth Zott, an opinionated, smart, and talented aspiring chemist tries to further her research and runs into male privilege, under-equipped labs, lack of funding, and sexual assault–until procuring beakers from another scientist gets her noticed by Nobel Prize winner Cal Evans. They develop a mutually respectful and lovely relationship, where a rescue dog named Six-Thirty completes their child-free family–until Cal suffers a tragedy and Elizabeth finds herself with a child out of wedlock. The novel centers around how Elizabeth came to star on a popular television show Supper At Six, where each recipe has a foundation in chemistry, sending housewives to the store for sodium chloride and acetic acid. Her deconstruction of cultural norms that hold women back and encouragement of fans to follow their dreams make her both popular and a threat. My most favorite part was Elizabeth’s attempt to teach the dog English vocabulary–and the dog’s narration.

The writing was so absolutely stellar–funny, poignant, infuriating, and magical, peopled with impossible and flawed characters. Modern women will shudder at how little we’ve come since the sixties. The sport of rowing plays a major role, as does chemistry, and these elements elevate the story from a mere romance to something really special. The many accolades are well-deserved; this is a powerful debut novel.

I listened to Lessons In Chemistry via Audible and the narration was crisply delivered with unique voicing for each distinct character. This is a fabulous readalike for fans of science-y books about women overlooked, featuring strong women and research, such as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot or Behave by Andromeda Romano-Lax.

I received a free, advance reader’s review copy of #LessonsInChemistry from #NetGalley.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy!

I've been seeing and hearing about this book everywhere, but it didn't quite land for me as it seems to for so many people. Elizabeth, the main character, is a die-hard feminist and brilliant. But, I'm not sure why she also had to be unaware she is beautiful. I love the character of the dog, but didn't really vibe with her daughter. I loved the idea of these themes and stories, but overall the book felt like it was just trying too hard. I think there's a lot to explore in this time in history and in women's roles in general, and I'm glad to see it in my fiction!

This book as been getting a LOT of buzz, and generally that makes me hesitant to read it. I'm so glad I did! I could not put it down, and it may be the best book I've read in a long time. I sometimes laughed out loud, I sometimes cried and even yelled out "YES!" a couple of times. If fiction is supposed to elicit strong emotion, this is the perfect fiction book.

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist, but in the 1950s & 60s, women are not supposed to excel in science. They are supposed to make coffee for the scientists or type their reports or take shorthand or just get married and have babies. Elizabeth is not about to do any of that. When a series of events results in her losing her job in the lab and finds her hosting a cooking show on TV, she manages to infuse every recipe with chemistry and life lessons.

This is a story of resilience and the power of friendship and family. Every character is intriguing and entertaining. Her daughter, her neighbor, the minister, and even her co-workers all add greatly to the story and kept me reading. The book looks at gender roles, racism, religion, fame, and so much more without becoming overly preachy. This would be the perfect "book club" book since there's so much fodder for discussion, but the bottom line is that this book is also very entertaining. I loved it!!

One note -- Elizabeth is an atheist and a humanist and makes no bones about it. Some of her comments could (will) be offensive to some, and even the minister expresses doubts about organized religion, the existence of God and the afterlife, and the authenticity of the Bible. I see this as a great source for those discussions, but I'm sure some will find these passages objectionable.

Wow - this book was incredible and I'm still thinking about it several days after finishing it. Definitely five stars!! Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in a man's world in the 1950s and 1960s. After being fired for being pregnant without being married, she stumbles upon a job hosting a cooking show on the local TV channel. The show becomes wildly successful due to the way she approach cooking (like a chemistry experiment) and the support that she gives her audience of housewives. She has a very precocious 4-year daughter and a dog named Six-Thirty (the time he followed her home from the market). In my opinion, if you take Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Bones TV show, make her a chemist in the 1960s, and throw in Wes Anderson along with some quirky characters, and you've got Lessons in Chemistry. This is the author's debut novel, and I didn't want it to end. Looking forward to more from Bonnie Garmus in the future. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!!

One of my favorite books for the past several years. This book reminded me of all the women who fought for years to give me the rights I enjoy now. Elizabeth Zott is a woman to be reckoned with and a role model for women. She fights for her place in the world and when her daughter enters the world, she does what she can to put food on the table and still fight against the patriarchy. There are so many likeable characters in the book, but 6:30 has to be one of my favorites. This book is an inspiring story. I highly recommend it.

Lessons in Chemistry totally lives up to its hype, and then some. I had seen a lot of mixed reviews, but most were positive and I was definitely curious to check it out. I'm so glad I did!

The story itself was not what I was expecting and I loved it for that reason, and many more. While Elizabeth is guarded, and rightfully so, she's such a lovable character and I found myself rooting for her the entire time. She was so ahead of her time and that made her even more amazing. The situations in this novel are so relevant to the present even though it takes place in the past, which is unfortunate. (Like trying to set gender role expectations, just for an example.) We need many more Elizabeth Zotts around to take on everyone who wants to send our country back to 1955.

I have been watching Why Women Kill and this novel gives off a similar vibe due to the authentic feel of the time period and how women back then were so badass. And Elizabeth has a good reason to want to kill some people based on how they treated her. (I'm not saying that she does or doesn't though...). It also contains some elements of the current season of Riverdale, which sort of influenced one of my casting choices...

The synopsis is misleading in terms of the timing, as the story actually starts in the early 1950s and then the cooking show starts in the 1960s. That's really my only concern though.

This novel is on par with Remarkably Bright Creatures in terms of the quirkiness and giving all the feels, as well as how some characters fit into the story. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it!

(Trigger warning at the bottom.)

Movie casting suggestions:
Elizabeth: Lili Reinhart
Calvin: Will Poulter
Harriet: Molly Hagan
Miss Frask: Beanie Feldstein
Donatti: Michael Angarano
Walter Pine: Paul Giamatti
Ms. Mudford: Hanna Hall

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TW: sexual assault