Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Lezioni di chimica

It was a fun and unique story with great writing. My main gripes about it was the lack of diversity. Felt like I was being slapped in the face with white feminism. I wouldn’t have been totally bothered considering it’s focused on a white woman in the 60s but the book makes such a big deal about how inspirational Zott is to other woman that I couldn’t help but think about how other WOC are doing in this world. It didn’t help that there’s a paragraph talking about Rosa Parks then absolutely no other reference back to it. Other than that, the books started off kind of slow but picked up halfway through. I also enjoyed the focus on the side characters and their various POVs.

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poetkoala's review against another edition

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It’s two smart people being dumb at each other and thinking, “Why doesn’t this person realize how smart I’m being?!” And then there was one line that smacked of “I’m just a nice guy hoping a girl will reward me for not trying to get into her pants by letting me into her pants!”

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xoxlululuxox's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

3.5

I picked it up after seeing rave reviews and the new series snippets on TikTok. I can confidetly say that this won't be for everyone.

This book took some time for me to get into, the pacing is very slow and the writing style has you jumping from present to past and back within the same chapter.

Set in the early 60s, the book focuses on Elizabeth Zott as she moves through life from single career driven woman to single mother trying to keep herself afloat.

Elizabeth Zott is a very serious character, who has beliefs that are in line with today's women. She is extremely intelligent, and is autisticly coded. She is quite abrasive and hard to like at first but I think as the book moves along and she finds/creates her family she becomes more likeable.

This book does paint men as misogynistic pigs, with the exception of a few, but I think that is part of what makes Elizabeth's journey stronger and more believable. If all the men were supportive of her, with a few exceptions, you wouldn't have the same story.

I believe this book is very dark in its topics, ranging from actual and threats of rape, death, mentions of suicide and homophobia, parental abandonment, as well as, as previously mentioned, misogyny. But it isn't all horrible, with light-hearted moments existing particularly in the later part of the book.

One of the things I truly adored about this book was that despite Elizabeth Zott's troubles in the past with her family she was able to create her own after the birth of her child, growing as a person and gaining connections that become stronger along the way.

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melodrama44's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

2.0

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cavallonee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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celestecurls's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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esophagus18's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

wow an instant favorite! impossible to put down and deeply poignant. so funny! i loved every page.

the way every character was connected in web-like fashion was thrilling and had my jaw drop on multiple occasions

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kds247's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was a solid book. I did have some issues with it such as the layout of the book and the way the author wrapped things up with too neat of a bow, but it had an intriguing voice and storyline. With that being said, I especially loved the conversations between the characters about things such as religion, found/unconventional families, housewives, and the treatment of women. It was tackled brilliantly, written in such an elegant way where I can call this book a great feminist book.

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