Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus

“Sometimes I think," she said slowly, "that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn't make it past noon.”

 

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And here we have my first audio book of the year! A pretty good 4-star read from Bonnie Garmus. After I finished the audio, I learned that there is a mini-series on Apple TV, so I may have to check that out! 

Started: December 27th, 2023

Finished: January 4th, 2024

Synopsis: In the 1960's, Elizabeth Zott fights tooth and nail to be taken seriously as a chemist. After getting thrown up on by breakout scientist, Calvin Evans, the two form a love that only chemistry can take pride in. But when Calvin dies suddenly, Elizabeth is left unmarried and with child, which in that day in age, is a death sentence for any woman. 

My Review: I came into this book expecting it to be a romance. And while it had some aspects of romance in it, I do not believe this should be marketed solely as romance. It is historical fiction with a peppering of romance. 

Elizabeth Zott is a character that I will probably remember for all time. She is no nonsense and she sticks to her morals like a fly sticks to honey. Her stubborn ways can be annoying sometimes, however, it makes perfect sense with her character. She is a woman who is trying to be taken seriously in her work and prove to every man she comes across that she isn't some secretary or stay-at-home mother. 

To be completely honest, I was floored when Calvin, her love interest, dies in a rather traumatic way. I did not expect the romance to just end there. But I think it was necessary, lest Elizabeth be taken advantage of by being Mrs. Calvin Evans. To add to this, I thought it interesting that some POV's in the story were from very minor characters, one of which is her rescue dog, Six-Thirty. A good part of Elizabeth's home life is spoken through her neighbor, Harriet Sloane and Six-Thirty. 

As the story progresses and we learn that Elizabeth is pregnant with Calvin's child, I really started to feel for Elizabeth. This is a woman that NEVER wanted to have children. She tells us multiple times that she wanted to give the baby away and this concept of unwed mothers shows up a lot in the novel. It comes back full circle with Avery Parker, Calvin's long lost biological mother. Putting this stress on a woman to have children and be married was so rough and it caused so much grief. All because of the social norms at the time. And we still see this culture in some parts of the world today. Elizabeth took this burden of raising a child single-handedly with as much grace as she could, even if she had to warm up milk in a beaker. 

I also loved the interactions between Mad Zott and Harriet. Madeline is an interesting daughter and definitely considered to be a prodigy in...something. You just know a gifted child when you see one. 

Elizabeth, after being fired from her chemist job due to her misogynistic boss, finds herself the host of a new cooking show called Supper at Six. It is here where Elizabeth combines her love of cooking nutritious meals for her daughter and teaching the world about chemistry in food. I really enjoyed the Supper at Six segments and wish there had been more opportunities to explore the work she did on the show. 

The ending was a bit lackluster for me. That is where I deducted one star. After Reverand Wakely comes into the picture and the whole mystery of where Calvin was born came in, I became  bit bored. I wasn't a part of the book because of Calvin, I wanted to know more about Elizabeth Zott. The book hyped up this whole time that Evans hated his father and when it was revealed that he was just some random athlete, it kind of seemed stitched together in a disjointed way. I loved the reveal of the mother though and her story about having her child, having him taken away from her, and her trying to find him all of these years. In an age where social media wasn't a thing, I can only imagine trying to find your long lost son all of these years and finally finding him after he was dead. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, this was a very nice read. I enjoyed the decade it was written in and I think that all characters were written pretty well. I would have done without the All Saints crew and Reverend Wakely though. Of all of the characters, they are the ones that felt the most bland to me. 

But I will say again, this is not a romance. For the first 100 pages yes, there is a love interest, but this book is primarily about Elizabeth Zott and her struggle to become more than just the average woman in the 50s and 60s. It is about her determination and her zeal for science. If you like kick-ass women who take no prisoners, then this book will be for you.