A wonderful historical fiction primed with strong characters and great representation of women in STEM. This was a well written book and definitely deserving of all the hype and comments it is receiving.

A wonderful historical fiction that filled my feminist heart with such joy. The STEM representation was great. Elizabeth was such a strong and independent character. Going through so much, especially in the 1960s world filled of sexism and misogyny. This book, and its message, will definitely stick with you.

Great inspirational read with just a really lovely storyline. Highly recommend to any literary fiction lovers.

A story that started off engaging for me but ended up missing the mark. The writing was okay but I couldn't connect to any of the characters or the plot so I ended up DNFing at around 50%

My favourite book of 2022! Elizabeth Zott is a chemist, driven to teach her daughter "Mad" about science, the world, and who cares what anyone else things... not exactly what was expected for a woman in her 60s! This book was creative, hilarious, moving and just so much fun. I've been recommending this one up and down.

Thank you for the advance copy of this fantastic book! Like so many others I loved this one, and will be eagerly awaiting other titles by Bonnie Garmus.

CW: Sexual assault, sexism, gaslighting, death of a loved one, talk of suicide & reference to domestic violence.

Lessons in Chemistry is the story of Elizabeth Zott's life. Elizabeth is a female scientist in the 60's, a time when women had to fight to be seen as men's equals & trudge through sexism and gaslighting every single day. While there are some moments in this book that made me laugh, this is a very serious & heartbreaking book that deals with tough topics.

This book has a lot going on, there is lots of character development, romance & a storyline that keeps you engaged. I loved the main character & ended up falling in love with many of the side characters as well, since they do get a lot of character development themselves. Please keep in mind that this book can be triggering for some, and I would recommend reading it when you're in a good place mentally.

As a woman in science, I knew I had to give this book a read & I am so glad that I did. This book made me so proud of just how far woman have come just within the last 60 years. I think this is a must read book for all women, and especially those in STEM.

The one and only issue I had with this novel was the advertising for it as "lough-out-loud funny." While there were a few funny moments, overall this is a very serious book & I believe it should be treated as such.

This one started off super slow for me. I had a really hard time getting into it and I think it was a bit boring. It didn’t keep me hooked like I wanted it too.

Outstandingly incredible writing! Quirky in the very best way! Unputdownable! I absolutely loved this sometimes hilarious, often tragic story!

Lessons in Chemistry portrays almost every woman's plight on this earth - rolled into the harrowing life experiences of one indomitable female scientist: you could not keep Elizabeth Zott down! I would line up to buy an action figure of Elizabeth Zott - I fell so in love with this badass woman!

In an interview at the end of the audiobook - what an amazing bonus that was! - the author points out that things have indeed changed for the better for us, but that women are still far from equal in this still predominantly "man's world."

All of us have experienced at least a fraction of the debasing attitudes and actions that have kept women pigeon-holed into specific roles, as if the ability to nurture and bring forth life in our own bodies makes us lesser than the male species. I don't want to get on a soapbox, but I was born a feminist. I had three brothers and we debated with endless ferocity about a woman's inherent right to equality, despite our "physical attributes" - or lack thereof, as my brothers (who have since learned the error of their ways!) were so ready to point out.

The fear of failure and/or the belief that we "aren't smart enough" keeps all kinds of talented people stuck in unfulfilling roles/jobs/relationships. We fear the unknown and find stagnating comfort in following a more traditional path. Elizabeth's awful childhood did not defeat her: instead, as she points out later in the novel, we have to take the bad things that happen to us in this life and use the lessons learned to make us stronger. Like I said before, Elizabeth was a true Badass!

I loved the dog, 6:30, who is such a brilliant character in this magical story. In fact, the entire cast of characters - Calvin Evans, Mad, Harriet, and Walter, to name just a few - helped propel the action and kept you riveted to this story. I became totally invested in Elizabeth and Mad's trials and tribulations. What an utterly fascinating story this was!

EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS AMAZING, LIFE-CHANGING NOVEL!

I am so very proud of and grateful to Bonnie Garmus for creating these incredible characters, and reminding us that we owe the progress women have made to people like Elizabeth Zott's characters, whose suffering and determination have paved the way for us.

I am giving this a hundred stars, because every part of this novel took my breath away, it felt so true and - despite its quirkiness - real, and in a way has told, at least in part, every woman's story!

My thanks to the author, Bonnie Garmus, the publisher, Doubleday Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. (My apologies for the late posting, but I suspect that I was meant to read and listen to the audio of this book at this particular time, when I finally had the luxury of time and a less fraught mind - I blame you for the latter, COVID! - to thoroughly enjoy every bit of it!)

I adored this book!! If I’m being transparent, I’d seen so many rave reviews for this book, and I thought it was going to be another overhyped book. I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this fantastically written (debut!) novel.

Set in the 1950-60’s, Elizabeth Zott is fighting gender discrimination every day at her job as a chemistry researcher. She is passionate about science, and soon meets the love of her life Calvin Evans, who is as passionate as she is in the chemistry field.

Elizabeth is far from your typical 50’s housewife, and has no desire to conform to the societal norms of the times. After unexpectedly becoming a single mother, she will face incredible obstacles in not only her career, but her family life as well. Her situation appears hopeless, and yet she finds success in her own right.

This was such a unique, eccentric, warm-hearted book. I loved the era, and am curious to find out what the author’s inspiration was. There are a number of well developed side characters (six-thirty🐕🥰!!) and I found myself rooting for all of them.

Lessons In Chemistry really had all of the feels going on. I was angry at how women were treated in male dominated fiends (and still are 🙄), I admired Elizabeth’s inner strength, and I had so much hope for her perseverance. I think this book would make an incredibly entertaining movie!!

The cover though. While the cover is very cute and eye-catching, I feel it was almost misleading to the story inside? IMO, the cover looks light and fluffy, and this book had so much more substance to it. Maybe it’s just me??

I really enjoyed this book, would 10/10 recommend it to anyone. You'll love the main character and her spit fire personality as well as her strange love interest and her curious daughter. I loved how well all of the characters were weaved together and I didn't mind all of the time skips because they added to the storyline. There's a lot of melancholy in this book but also so much humor and female empowerment. If only the world had worked out the way this book did, but alas, that's fiction for you.

It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, parental neglect, religious extremism, animal cruelty, sexual abuse of a minor, suicide of a minor, & others.

In the rose-coloured world of the Cold War era in America, a singular woman leads the way to righteous equality by putting herself at the head of the line of women who are too stupid to be as wonderful; too ugly to be as outspoken; not sexually active enough to be as insightful, nor are unbound by religious faith to be as debonair as Elizabeth Zott. Should any one woman wonder what it is they lack they need only regard Elizabeth at a glance for, without prompt, she will tell them what they are not. As a champion for women’s rights in the so-called world that existed before women cared to be treated with any level of dignity, Elizabeth set herself apart by being the only woman in the world worth treating respectfully.

In what promises to be the blasphemous tremor that shakes the steeple, the synopsis of this book reveals everything a reader needs to know about the author & the story they have decided to write. Garmus reveals to the reader, in no uncertain terms, that her main character is unlike anyone we have ever known or will, possibly, ever know; she is not like other girls because she is Elizabeth Zott. Should one be left to wonder at what this could mean, one is not left wondering for very long as the introductory chapter of this book annihilates the hopes that a reader might have at encountering a woman, unlike the antagonists that plague the fictional world of their demonized dreams or, those who exist in the West as wicked witches.

I am not altogether unconvinced that this was not a work of satire. The world in which I live is shared with a variety of people & yet, this book that allegedly takes place in the same environment is loath to include anyone other than the attractive White able-bodied individual whom we are all familiar with seeing on posters plastered around from the nostalgically sickening period in which this story takes place. It is certainly not wrong to write what you know. This is often the piece of advice that has been sustained throughout the ages since being spoken by Twain all those years ago. However, at this point, & realistically, since forever, there have been dedicated stories which are pushed to the forefront of the literary world that reflect a very specific take on social endeavours.

Let me be very clear, everyone deserves to be able to speak their truth. It is important to gather a full perspective, especially about historical events such as, in this case, the feminist movement. That being said, we have heard from the same group of people for a very long time & there has been an apparent crater left in place of the narratives of those who remain disproportionally affected by the same issues that are raised in this book. I cannot help but feel annoyed that this book has presented itself as something worth reading; something that broaches the topic of feminism, sexism, women’s rights, gender equality, & legislation against another person’s entity, all while remaining solely focused on the character of a woman who hates other women.

There is a single instance in which Elizabeth hints at the awareness that BIPOC people exist but are neither represented nor present in her life & experiences. While sitting at the cinema she reflects that the female character will inevitably be blamed for all the actions of the male characters. In that same breath, she notes that there are only White actors in the film. Perhaps, had I had more confidence in what the author was attempting to convey, I would have been able to blindly obey the banal pursuant of the plot however, that is not who I am as a reader or as a person & am therefore left with a great deal of disgust towards the approach this book took.

Elizabeth is a chemist in Commons, California. This, in & of itself, is a wonderful achievement & something to be praised for women have not long been ‘granted’ the privilege of education nor the freedom of choice to pursue endeavours to which their interests favour. Regrettably, this remains the singular point of which I can applaud Elizabeth. She remains a person who put themselves forth to pursue an education in a field that was male-dominated & which she was never guaranteed success. It is important to remember that not every woman had the ability to pursue that which was made ‘available’ to them. Even if a woman might have lived in a city where the local University permitted women to pursue studies—in any number of fields—this does not mean that they were ‘free’ to apply & pursue their education.

For a very long time, in many, many different parts of the world, a woman needed the written & signed permission of a male—typically their father or husband—to be granted admission to any number of activities. The fact that Elizabeth was able to study chemistry at University, at all, is a great stroke of privilege & chance. It would have been wonderful for her character to maintain some level of self-awareness because her path in life was, paved, whereas millions of women around her were not granted so much as the most ‘up-to-date’ human rights legislation. By this I mean, that though this book focuses on Elizabeth’s transition from a chemistry student to a professional chemist, we see no tangible level of relatability in her person. She does not encounter half of what many women did & this leaves her to remain solitary on the pedestal on which she placed herself.

With all the opportunities that Elizabeth has had, she remains willfully ignorant of everything taking place around her. It is as though the author could not rationalize having a woman be an intellectual while simultaneously having common sense. Many of the events that take place in this book are ridiculously offensive for the simple fact that Elizabeth goes out of her way to prove that just because something bad happened to other women, it will not happen to her because she is better than the women to which these things have happened. The first instance in which this takes place is during the initial rape scene that transpires at the hands of Elizabeth’s professor who has a reputation for being a “lecher”.

One does not need to have lived their entire lives as a female to understand that knowledge of someone being a violent sexual deviant is enough to put oneself on guard & to ensure, with all one’s abilities, to keep as distanced as is possible with this person. I want to be explicitly clear here & say that it is never, under any circumstances, the fault of the victim in instances of such attacks. One can take all the best steps to ensure one’s safety & still encounter villains such as exist within this book. With that being said, Elizabeth does not listen to victims, she does not showcase any awareness to care about their experiences because she deliberately puts herself in positions to be alone with men whom she has been told are dangerous. By blatantly ignoring the warnings given to her by victims of these assaults she transitions from a person who seamlessly gets away with acts of crime whereas any other woman would not & one is left asking oneself why.

Knowing that the professor was a prolific perpetrator of sexual violence against women; one who ensures that his victims lose their jobs, their position as students, etc. after they try to come forward, the author decides that the experiences of these women are not worth paying attention to because Elizabeth was able to stab this person with a pencil, subsequently causing him serious bodily harm. Why is that? Why are the experiences of other women completely ignored & why is the reader meant to focus solely on the action performed by Elizabeth? Why was Elizabeth not arrested? What was it about her that indicated that this attractive, young, White, female did not need to be in a prison cell or—such as was utilized at the time—an insane asylum? She did, after all, stab someone.

I find it difficult to forgive the blatant aggression against the experiences of every other woman in this book so that the plot might cushion the colossally moronic decisions of the main character. It was not enough for Elizabeth to have been raped by someone; this experience is glorified by presenting her as a saviour to all women, except every single one who warned her to heed the looming presence of the villain himself. Not only does Elizabeth blatantly ignore the warnings of everyone at University, she decides that she can physically confront sexually violent men on more than one occasion. This is absurd behaviour. Though it would be wonderful to believe that women can walk freely in the world without the fear of assault, this is not the case.

To write an entire scene where Elizabeth silences Rosa, a woman she works with, who is trying to warn her that their TV producer is a sexual predator, is superbly stupid. What are we expected to gain from this scene? Are we to take away that because Elizabeth was blindly brave, she wouldn’t encounter the same fate as every other woman? Why are we following the roaming adventures of a woman who purposefully ignores other women? This is insulting & reinforces the perception that if you ‘aren’t like other women’ you will be ok & the villains cannot touch you. When writing a book it is important to remember that people, women, will read this book; people, women, who have experienced abuse, assault, & violence, will regard this as the absolute slap in the face that it is.

While actively ignoring the advice, warnings, & kindly words of women, Elizabeth has, along the way, decided that the only opinion worth heeding is her own. As she is actively described as being a genius one might believe that this is the safe route to take for, who knows better than an intellectual. Unfortunately, for both Elizabeth & the gumdrop world in which she lives, intellect is something that is to be constantly maintained, like a muscle that is trained, so too does the malleability of the brain affect one’s ability to retain information & comprehend the world. In Elizabeth's case, there is seldom an instant in which her appointed genius is proven. If everyone around you is an imbecile, you are no relic of the intellectual, you are simply one step apart from the rest. The bar to which Elizabeth’s intelligence is measured is not very high if even a centimetre off the ground.

Every man in this book is written as being a total ignoramus & dedicated full-time idiot. Can I believe that some people crept through the cracks of the lab work that Elizabeth was doing? Yes. Just as I can in any work environment. Some people are lucky & others are dedicated, while others still are incredibly gifted. However, what I cannot fathom is an entire team of Ph.D. Chemists who are dumber than doorknobs. Women are intelligent on their merit. We should not be writing smart women as being smart only because the men in their lives are dumb. It would have been worthwhile for Elizabeth to have sustained the claims of genius by outperforming her high-achieving co-workers. Instead, we read about a group of individuals who truly went through years of schooling to not be able to distinguish their rears from holes in the ground.

The aspect that I found to be the most troublesome & one that reinforces my original point, is the fact that this entire book covets the point while blissfully flying past it. When Madeline, Elizabeth’s daughter, goes to school she contradicts the teacher who instructs her that the colour blue is being given to boys & the colour pink, to girls. She says that those are not gender-specific colours & at a surface level this is true. What highlights this particular instance as one that should be remarked upon for the sustained ineptitudes of the main character is the fact that she never speaks to her daughter about the very real issues being faced by women across the globe, rather she encourages her to read giant tomes of Classic literature without delving into the specifics of what it all means.

Surely, fiction may be interpreted in different ways. However, when referencing books such as “Moby Dick: or The Whale” (1851) one needs to grant the reader some context. It is not an act of intelligence to be able to regurgitate what one reads; students have been doing it for generations. Elizabeth is, perhaps, simply not smart enough to sit down with her child to speak about the complexities of book plots. On the other hand, perhaps, this is simply par for the course as she allows her child to focus on what is minutely important for her group of women. By this I mean, that the gender assignment of colours is an issue, certainly, but the bigger issue is the sexual violence experienced by hundreds of women that Elizabeth ignores. To have the ability to focus on such a minute issue as colour assignment one is stating to the world that the problems that plague them are minute, at best. This is particularly heinous as Elizabeth is a victim of sexual violence.

I do not think it is the responsibility of every victim to spearhead revolutions of change but, if one is a parent one has the responsibility of teaching one’s child about the realities that circulate the world around them. By simply focusing on Madeline’s recall abilities, or her dexterity when it comes to making knots; Elizabeth encourages her child to be ostracized. She is not granting her the privilege of having the information necessary to make her way into the world. Alongside that, she forces her to attend school when it is not legally acceptable to do so. She also allowed her to explore, unsupervised, all the unsafe areas of their home because she wanted to focus on teaching their dog new words or on doing her personal projects. Can I appreciate that it is difficult to be a mother? Of course. However, Madeline did not ask to be born & Elizabeth is deliberately ignoring her parental responsibilities under the guise that her child is highly intelligent.

While perusing through life, Elizabeth encounters Calvin Evans who becomes the father to Madeline. In all their time spent together, neither Calvin nor Elizabeth felt fully ready to discuss the consequences of their childhoods. When she learns that Calvin was orphaned at the age of five (5) & spent his entire youth at a Catholic home for boys, Elizabeth, shockingly, does not react how I would have imagined given the love of her life hinted very pointedly that he was abused by the figureheads of the establishment. Rather than endeavour to place any weight on this, Garmus, once again, keeps the story rolling until it is convenient to explicitly state that Calvin was sexually abused as a child & well into his youth by members of the Catholic church.

I find this particularly garish because children will, once again, find themselves reading this book, just as the people & women of earlier, & wonder why the abuse that was experienced is only utilized as a plot device to make the main character—the person who did not experience childhood sexual abuse—seem like a hero for telling the story of someone who has died. It is outlandish to write about childhood abuse in such a flippant manner. To have Elizabeth learn about the explicit details of the abuse through Calvin’s journal entries & take this information to a reporter is beyond comprehension. At every turn, this story highlights itself as more ridiculous, irresponsible, & shortsighted than before.

There is never a single moment when a tactful discussion transpires regarding the repercussions of childhood trauma. Yet, almost every character in this book has experienced some level of horror that shaped them into an adult who performs the coping mechanisms that they do. The subplot of Calvin being an orphan who was abandoned by his family is mind-blowing. At this point in the story, it seems that the author has taken it upon themselves to take include trauma known to the species. All the while, vehemently excluding the experiences of BIPOC folks so that the narrative centres on an unlikeable individual who shuns other women & puts her child in peril.

This book has no redeeming features; nothing worth the while for any reader seeking to find sensitive subject matters explored with tact, class, & intelligence. The inability to use accurate tonality & vernacular throughout this book renders the plot a muddle of tar on searing cement. Introducing a point of view for the dog spoke truth to my feelings of a lack of casual respect that is necessitated when writing about the topics which are broached in this book. It is ridiculous that the character of the dog & every other tertiary character receive pages at length whereas the subject matter of abuse is sprinkled as though celebrating a quirky aspect of an otherwise stale birthday cake.

One does not need to see the term ‘depressed’ tossed around as though an adjective for someone who is unhappy. One does not need to read about a dog with telekinetic abilities speaking to a fetus about the death of its parent. One does not need to read about the exploits of a woman who hates other women simply because she thinks herself above them & their lives.

If one chooses to broach abuse, both those that are experienced in childhood & adulthood, one is expected to be able to write with some level of skill & elegance; presenting words with kindness, dedication, understanding, & importance that the victims of these acts deserve to see presented—even in fictional stories. One needs tact, sensitivity, & poise to explore the truths revealed by those who carry the experiences between their vertebrae in an act of solidarity, strength, & support with each other.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada & Bonnie Garmus for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I didn't love this book. I liked it but it dragged on and on. The ending was fabulous but I was pretty bored. Interesting subject though.

Thank you @doubledayca for sending me Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. It was such a beautiful story.

I will preface my complete adoration for this book with the content warning that is is set in a science community in the 1960s. The amount of workplace harassment, sexual assualt, and just the general treatment of women was hard to read at some parts. But worth the read.

Maybe one of my favourite historical fiction novels in recent memory, Lessons In Chemistry is such an interesting book about a fascinating woman. I do wish we had way more of the cooking show scenes so I could pretend longer that it was real. I loved the concept of it and loved her messages on the show.

I really enjoyed this book. I would love to see it as a tv show one day. You don’t have to be a science type to enjoy this book. I definitely would recommend others to read it. It was a real fun read. Thank you for my copy!

"Too many brilliant minds are kept from scientific research thanks to ignorant biases like gender and race." It's frightening to see that there are still some issues from the 50s and 60s that are still ongoing right now, more than 50 years later...

This book was not at all what I thought it would be. It's not an easy book, I felt frustrated soooo many times by all the inequalities again women, how they were almost persecuted.

Elizabeth is a remarkable human being, incredibly intelligent. Unfortunately for her, She wasn’t born in the right period. She was too advanced for her time, she would’ve fit perfectly right now.

TW for suicide, sexual assault, misogyny.

Many thanks to the publisher for the complimentary e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you so much to Double Day Canada and Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary digital review copy of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I love this book so much I had to pick up a copy to go on my forever shelves.

Elizabeth Zott is one of few female chemists at her workplace, Hastings Research Institute, in the 1960's. She is constantly proving herself to others who work there though not getting enough of the credit she deserves.

I absolutely adored this book. I had a lot of trouble putting it down when I needed to go do other stuff.

This book is marketed as a romance, and though we do see a bit of a relationship in its pages, I didn't see it as the focus. Elizabeth and Calvin's love is clear, though maybe not conventional. But, my favourite parts of this book centered around Elizabeth learning about herself, Mad and Six-Thirty.

I laughed out loud in so many places, and loved the development of the characters and the plot. Reading sections in Six-Thirty's perspective was hilarious and perfectly balanced some of Elizabeth's point of view.

As a woman in STEM I am always here to read about more women in STEM, and this book did not disappoint.

This book was really good! At the beginning I thought that Elizabeth's character was very cold and uninviting but as time went on, I honestly loved her character and everything she stood for throughout the entire novel. Bonnie Garmus did an amazing job writing this. The characters, the plot and especially the female empowerment message really kept me hooked! Cannot wait to read more by this author!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think I fell prey to the hype-train surrounding this book - although I really enjoyed it, I didn't LOVE it like I was expecting to. I think it was all in my head though, the characters were engaging and easy to root for and the plot moved along at a steady pace. Overall, would definitely recommend to most people but I would caution them against reading too many reviews in advance.

This book was absolutely wonderful - such an inspiring, fun, thoughtful story. This will for sure be a top read this year.

In the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott is a chemist struggling to be taken seriously in a male-dominated profession. She becomes an unlikely celebrity when she starts hosting an afternoon cooking show.

The book made me angry, sad, inspired, and happy all at once. Elizabeth is such a well-written character, and I really felt like I got to know her throughout the story.

We especially loved Six-Thirty - he was an added bonus in an already great book (he’s a dog and a very good boy!).