Lessons in Chemistry: The modern classic multi-million-copy bestseller

This book has had a huge amount of marketing and appears to have sold a lot of copies which is always great for the writer (and the industry in general). I've also had a few friends read it too and have heard nothing but good. The book is 386 pages split into 46 chapters which makes reading it very easy. I had a look on Amazon before I started and was amused to se that this is the number one book in the "Feminist Criticism" category (there was me thinking it was a novel!). The story starts with Elizabeth as a mother, scientist and TV presenter, juggling her commitments in a way that was unusual for the 1960s. We then go back ten years and begin to understand how she got where she is now. Whilst appearing to be light on the surface, the book quickly moves to much darker territory, showing the sexism and abuse that was accepted as normal. That sums up the beauty of this book - it has an unforgiving hardness at its centre but is wrapped but a thin layer of social predictability making it accessible to read. There is a balance of comedy and serious issues that also makes the book fun. Elizabeth as a character is hard to believe and I thought the author could have softened her more but, let yourself go with the depiction, and she is a great focus for the novel. The story has a big build up before we actually get Elizabeth on TV (which is marketed as the core of the novel) - this feels like a long time but is necessary as it sets the scene. Everyone in the book is a remarkable person for all sorts of reasons - even Six Thirty (the dog) who is taught to recognise hundreds of specific words. Getting further into the book I became more and more aware of how deep the topic is. There is a lot of thought around the equality messages and you can't help but make comparisons to today's society - some problems have been reduced by legislation and gradual society change but many issues are worse than ever. Women appearing on TV today would say that their looks are analysed more than ever before, with the possibilities of feedback not limited to phone calls and letters. Endings of novels are hard to get right but this one is perfectly achieved. There is a lovely amount of emotion mixed in with a good balance of well structured plot.

I’m amazed at how well the author understands the issues for women in the 1960’s without living through them. I did live through them , albeit in the UK, and she got it spot on. This is a book about an exceptional woman, Elizabeth Zott, who refuses to accept the role that male dominated society set out for her… and how she copes with the huge issues and struggles this causes. She is exceptionally intelligent, and a chemist. But in the 60’s there were few women accepted into male dominated areas like science, especially in Academe. But her treatment, though abusive to an extreme, was considered the norm in the 60’s and even 70’s. This is such a cleverly written novel, you can’t start to predict the outcome. It’s is funny on many levels, even endearing as the characters all juggle to survive and relate in different ways.. not all positive ones; it is sad to the point of tears at times. But both despair and hope work their way through the story , changing quite often from character to character. There were huge demonstrations in the 60’s to prevent the feminist movement but equal determination from top feminists to your average house wife to press forward with it. Films like ‘Mrs America ‘ show how deeply society was riven over the subject . It was accepted that men, especially ones in authority, were entitled to abuse female staff etc. No one blinked an eye! The idea of the ‘ little woman ‘ at home was even in books guiding women to happy marriages! So the struggles all the women go through are very valid. The small details, the quirkiness, the ups and downs of the heroine’s self belief are brilliantly and sensitively described. And the dog, Six thirty is a brilliant ‘ chorus’ type character.. both funny, eventually brave, and loyal.And he learns over 900 words to boot! I had no idea whether I’d enjoy it, but once I’d started, I just couldn’t put it down. And of course today, feminism or female equality still struggles and suffers many of Elizabeth’s hurdles, so it’s very relevant when we think of the Me Too movement, etc. All the characters are very realistic in one way or another, as they tumble through life , trying to progress. But for me, the women in it are the heroines, and Elizabeth the most fascinating of all. A must read if you like books about personal relatIonships, and coping with life generally.

A clever and entertaining story that keeps you interested from start to finish. Enjoyable and well written.

This book is fantastically written! Witty and smart without ever over explaining scientific terms. Garmus is an excellent author

What to say about this book, apart from it being in my Top 3 so far this year? It has one of the best opening chapters I’ve ever read. The writing is quirky, zingy, chippy and sharp. I have just finished it but feel like I want to read it again, now, straight away, because there were the bits I missed whilst desperately reading to find a happy ending, the bits I could perhaps understand better and the bits that were just a sheer joy to read. It made me laugh aloud at times. The lives of women in America in the 1950/60s are depressing, saddening and quite unbelievable in places, but their lives were replicated elsewhere in the world at the time AND continue to be replicated around the world now, today. The way men treat women…well, we don’t have to look far to see it every day in certain cultures and sections of society. Anything that champions everybody’s right to speak freely and be who they are is very ok in my book. You don’t need to understand chemistry to read this book, you just need to appreciate people and their experiences. All the characters leap out of every page. They are fully formed, articulate, you have a clear picture of who they are and what they look like. And, if you don’t quite believe them, then stop, believe and go with the flow. I’d give this book 10 stars if I could. It has blown me away. I have read several 1 star reviews and feel sad that those reviewers have clearly missed the point. It’s a love story, a story about family and how we create our own, a story about personal belief, personal achievement and a story about respect - for oneself, for each other, for different viewpoints and different lives. It’s a triumphant debut.

I really enjoyed this novel about an American woman in the 1950s and early 1960s trying to do life her way, including bringing up a young daughter (with the help of an intelligent dog), trying to pursue a career as an academic scientist and simply trying to earn a living. Lessons in Chemistry isn't really about gritty realism - although I've seen other readers question plot points that sadly ring all too true, whether in the UK or the US. There are some difficult themes here including the problems faced by children in care and the ethics of those who are meant to look after them, sexism ranging from casual assumptions through job discrimination to misogyny, assault and rape. However, this is a strong piece of storytelling and the author handles her story with warmth and humour. I also liked that some characters were able to learn and change their minds, and the way in which Elizabeth Zott, through doing things her own way, was able to show other women that they had choices other than to stay at home or to collaborate with sexist bosses in order to survive the workplace themselves. There is a great cast of other characters in the story too, including Calvin, Elizabeth's young daughter Mad, her neighbour for whom Elizabeth and her daughter offer a way out of a boring home life and a dull marriage, a doubting clergyman, and various colleagues at Elizabeth's two very different workplaces. I was very ready to go along with this hit novel and not worry that it was another case of hype, and I really enjoyed the read.

Ostensibly a book about Chemistry and a television cooking show, this chirpy and well-constructed novel is really about confronting sexism in America at the end of the 1950s – while also weighing in on behalf of other socially liberal values like people’s right to hold atheist beliefs and, briefly, on behalf of Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement. As such, it tells a rather odd story (the plot weaves between academia, child-rearing, a love story, rowing and the unwritten rules of television programming) but, never less than engaging, it also manages to hit its targets – most memorably when the heroine confronts her libidinous boss. In short, it tells the tale of the eccentric and unconventional Elizabeth Zott as she struggles in an academic career, finds her soul mate, loses him but gains a child and, falling on hard times, has unexpected success in hosting an afternoon cooking show, “Supper at Six”, before arriving at a satisfying ending. And Bonnie Garmus adorns this relatively straightforward narrative with some really sharp dialogue, some terrific if sometimes dysfunctional characters (the dog is great) and a lot of humour – the whole thing delivered at pace and with a real zest. Given all this, it seems a little churlish to carp but, for me at least, there were a few downsides which meant that a fifth star remains out of reach. First, despite some innovative and original writing, there is the occasional cliché. Why, for example, does nearly every novel of this nature have to be burdened with a gifted and precocious child – in this case, Mad (Madeline), Elizabeth’s daughter? Equally, did Harriet’s husband have to be quite such a cardboard cutout and symbolic “offensive man”? Second, occasional bits of late twentieth and early twenty-first century modernity steal into the late 1950s unannounced. Would, for example, Madeline have been able to sneak into a washing machine for a sleep in December, 1956 (as described) when front loading washing machines weren’t installed in most kitchens, even American kitchens, until at least a decade later? Similarly, the odd bit of dialogue seems a bit off key. While, for example, “Geez Louise!” is clearly on the money, would a worried dog have repeated “Oh my God!” several times in 1950s America? Maybe he would… But more important than either of these very minor reservations, is the way in which a series of converging coincidences tie up all the loose ends towards the end of the novel a little too neatly – and, therefore, predictably. Given the idiosyncratic and quirky character of the heroine and some unlikely turns in the preceding plot, a good few readers might have been expecting a final twist or two in an effort to swerve the relatively happy ending. All that said, though, this book is still something of a tour de force. I don’t think that it qualifies as proper literature (whatever that is) but it has some laugh out loud moments and comes in way above your average holiday read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of those books I wish I could read again for the first time. As a rower myself I could completely relate to the rowing references! A brilliant read, would recommend.