Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Lezioni di chimica

I had really high hopes for this but ended up absolutely despising it. I did however, very much enjoy the ending because I love when everybody gets what they deserve. It was the only redeeming thing about this disaster of a book.

First of all, I have no idea why in the world anyone would describe this as comedy and compare it to Mrs Maisel when the holy story revolved around discrimination, prejudice, bullying, rape, suicide and death in general. It had zero funny moments.

The story felt so unrealistic for the time. Yes, there absolutely were women who were highly intelligent, who wanted to work, to be scientists or doctors, who didn’t believe in God, who supported or at least accepted gay people, who didn’t believe in marriage, who didn’t want children, who were not warm and nurturing but more unemotional and matter-of-fact, and who had highly intelligent children whom they brought up with a more liberal mindset. Elizabeth, however, combined all of these traits and felt so incredibly unrealistic to me. The reason why I couldn’t stand her was a different one, though. She always felt the need to fight, to be mean and make enemies wherever she went. She was so uncooperative and defensive, she didn’t see when people were trying to help her and be good to her (Calvin, Mason, Avery). She felt downright hostile to me.

Talking about unrealistic, DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON MAD AND THE DOG. Madeline is 5 YEARS OLD. Even for a gifted child, it just seemed ridiculous to me, the way she talked, speaking about taxes and faith having nothing to do with religion, get out of here.
And then the friggin’ dog. Learning English. Analyzing human behavior like a psychologist. Reading the clock. Speaking to dead and unborn people. Walking 9 miles by himself to visit Elizabeth at work. Picking up Mad from school. Having an inner monologue about the dissonance between people thinking they’re so smart and voluntarily consuming carcinogens. Then of course he was trained in bomb detection, too. I swear the only thing that dog couldn’t do was go rowing with Elizabeth.
Also, maybe three people would watch that cooking show. It would NOT be a hit in that time. Today, yes. Back then, hell no.

Needless to say, I skim-read most of the book because I hated it so much but still wanted to know where the story was going to go, what all the fuss was about.
Then came the point I would have DNFed this, hadn’t I been in 76% already: Elizabeth, a SCIENTIST, someone who always stuck to the SCIENTIFIC FACTS, telling a woman on her show that it is OK TO EAT MEAT BECAUSE PLANTS ARE ALIVE, TOO, just like animals!!! LADY, PLANTS DO NOT HAVE A CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, THEREFORE, THEY DO NOT FEEL PAIN. Also, they do not feel emotions and have no families, they don’t feel frightened before we dice them, they do not release stress hormones, they don’t feel pain, they don’t miss their family members when separated from them. EATING MEAT AND EATING PLANTS ABSOLUTELY DO NOT COMPARE. Meat is murder, full stop. So is dairy and eggs. Educate yourself, Bonnie Garmus. The only slightly redeeming part about this was that, later, Elizabeth teaches her audience that plants do in fact have protein. So at least, Bonnie Garmus knows nutritional facts, even if she has no clue about the anatomy of plants or ethical questions.

Lastly, the whole point of the story was to fight discrimination and be accepting of people no matter their sex or sexual orientation - with the exception of people who believe in God, of course, and all Christian churches in the world. They are pure evil! There is only a single good priest and that is the one who doesn’t believe in God in the first place (Wakely). What a way to undermine the books whole point. Accept people for who they are, unless they have a different point of view or different beliefs from yours. Well done, Bonnie Garmus.

Content Warnings

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

ank3's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

itseharris's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so good!!! I love the way the author wrote Elizabeth and how strong she was. I also love the communication between her, Mad and Six-thirty, they are a great family who look out for each other and just get each other. Six-thirty is one of the best characters I think I have ever read, I’m obsessed with him and his fears that he overcomes to protect his family.

Content Warnings

funcabbage's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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