Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

119 reviews

emilyreadthatbook's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

books4me's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

annaofjesup's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

pkc's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

There’s really no way to describe the overall package that this book actually is. It’s a family drama, a treatise on the dangers of sexism, but crucially, a paean to hope. I’d give the trigger warnings a good read before you press on, but don’t miss out on this incredible, hopeful story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

ptoridactyl30's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment

pinkleum's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Car accident

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Slavery

literarylocd's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

beautiful gowns

TLDR;  the characters were flat. stop reading after chapter 20 and you’ll probably enjoy it


Okay.

Let me start off by saying this book needs content warnings at the beginning. I’ve included them below in my review but I just want to reiterate that these are all pretty graphic in the book. They are not just brief mentions. So keep that in mind.


I see why people like this book. Truly. It’s the kind of “no plot absolute vibes” that I usually go for. I just did not care about the characters. AT ALL. I wanted to care about Elizabeth but I couldn’t. Mainly because she just didn’t read with emotion. None of the characters did really. There were brief moments of (for lack of a better english term) vida between Calvin and Elizabeth but that was few and far between.

The premise is a chemist in the sixties who ends up hosting a cooking show. But this cooking show only comes into fruition after chapter 20 (ish). By then, I really did not give a monkeys about what happened. The more interesting parts had happened before.

i will say that the dynamic between Elizabeth and Calvin was very intriguing. I genuinely cared about their relationship and I wanted them to work. I wanted them to be open and honest and live with Six Thirty and just go about life being amazing scientists

This book explores grief (which I’m always a fan of) but after a while, it felt like it was going nowhere. There was no big emotional impact to anything going on.

Side note: Six Thirty’s character was kind of ridiculous and not in the fun way.

I HATED the comparison of housewife expectations as “legalised slavery”. I think white women prove time and time again that their feminism is not intersectional, and comments like that just cement it for me.

The ending was also kinda meh. Like super. I feel like everything after

that Phil donny’s heart attack

was super predictable and bleh. GIVE ME SOMETHING I’M BEGGING. 



PS: i’ve rated this 3 stars for now even though i lowkey wanna rate it higher/lower. the second half of the book was 👎🏾 but the first half was 👍🏾

PPS: i’m not joking about the content warnings lads. Like i’m telling you one scene in particular is graphic. So if you’re gonna read, please please please prepare for mass uncomfortableness 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Death of parent

alisonannk's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident

megs23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

shhh_tamis_reading's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Sometimes I wanted to throw the book as the sexism of the not so distant past was beyond hard to read. In reality I couldn’t put the book down. All the major characters were delightful, and I love Elizabeth! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail