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bookobsessedmommy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Side note: I absolutely love the fact that the author is over 60. She doesn't address ageism much in this book but I'm sure the publishing business is similar to the rest of the world in favoring youth. Seeing a woman over 40 have so much success gives me hope.
Graphic: Abandonment, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexism, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual harassment, Car accident, and Grief
Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse and Child death
greymalkin's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
I also appreciated the way that the casual sexism was depicted, both in offhand comments and attitudes even by the "good guy" Calvin, and those toxic attitudes internalized by the female characters. This is still a huge issue today and it should be called out because it is insidious and very hard to point to why small moments like that have such a lasting and terrible impact.
However because of the believability, this was also hard to read. Reading about such trauma and abuse is not easy, particularly when I was not prepared for it. I thought, based on the cover and blurb, that this would be more superficial than it was. And I didn't particularly like any of the characters, even the cute dog.
Also, ignoring the content of the events, there's a lot of plot points that depend on chance and luck, which ends up weakening the actual story. Starting with lots of bad luck/unfortunate events, and then having a bunch of good luck/happy happenstance happen and so "voila happy ending!" was not as compelling. It could easily have gone the other way and been a very different book. I'd hoped for something more inevitable or structured based on chemical mechanisms.
For those reviewers that feel like the events are exaggerated or unrealistic (there are dishearteningly many), please watch "Picture a Scientist" (https://www.pictureascientist.com/) to see only a handful of examples that are even more nauseating than what is conveyed here. And I feel that many who say "this seems fake, that kind of thing didn't happen to me" are maybe forgetting that the book was placed in the 1950's. Some things have thankfully improved since then, including issues like what a character toward the end of the book revealed. However even just a few years ago female-identifying freshmen at MIT were still being sent misogynistic messages telling them that they should just go home because they weren't smart enough or capable of doing science because of their sex. So it's not fixed by any stretch of the imagination.
<spoilers>I did spend part of the book wondering who Elizabeth was going to end up with in the end because it felt like it was being set up for that. But to my pleased surprise, she ends up without a romantic partner in the end, but lots of friends and family. I like that better.
Additionally, a minor note, but I saw in another review that pointed out how weird it was that chemist Elizabeth disdained the canned soup for all the chemicals in it. I agree. Given her background it seems extremely strange that she'd object to the soup on that basis. And at the time a lot of these prepared products were helping women by freeing them from being in the kitchen. I'd think that she'd be a huge fan of items that reduce the time that women need to be chained to the stove. You could spend an hour making cream of mushroom soup from scratch or open a can and feed your family in 5 min and then have 55 min to do things like apply to med school. If her objections to the soup were because it was a company that only used non-foodgrade ingredients or unsafe canning practices so that the soup was actually going to make people sick through botulism, then I'd say she has some merit to her complaint. But someone who calls salt sodium chloride would absolutely be someone who would argue that artificially produced MSG is totally fine since it's chemically identical to items that are found naturally in items like parmesan cheese and mushrooms.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence, Death, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
Minor: Child death
goldyyy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, Death, and Sexism
Moderate: Pregnancy and Suicide
Minor: Racism, Death of parent, Car accident, Outing, and Child death
jkneebone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I did listen to the audiobook, and I didn’t like the narration style very much, so perhaps I would have liked this better if I’d read the physical version. We’ll never know.
I’ll admit that some of my gripes with this book are more personal preference - I’m not a fan of the use of third person omniscient, for example, and I found Elizabeth Zott to be quite annoying as a main character. In some situations her perseverance was admirable, and I liked how she drew attention to the discrimination she faced as a woman; however in other situations she was so stubborn as to be idiotic. The way she refused to understand how any of her behavior might prove to be an issue, especially once she got on TV, made it seem like she had no awareness or understanding of how society worked.
In my view there were some technical issues with Lessons in Chemistry, eg it wasn’t very well written. Frankly, I think it was too long by half, and a lot of the backstory and tangents could have been removed. On the stylistic side, some things were over-exaggerated to the point of absurdism (eg, Elizabeth teaching her dog 900+ words) while others were treated extremely seriously (eg, the sexism Elizabeth faced) which made me unsure of how I was supposed to be reading the overall tone. There was practically no character growth or development, despite how many people’s heads we got to peek into, and so many of the characters read more like caricatures with no nuance at all, including some of the main players. And for a book ostensibly about a woman scientist, so much of the story from start to finish ended up being centered around Calvin.
Overall, this was fine. There were some funny parts, and even a few moments that tugged at my heartstrings, albeit in the same way as commercials with sad animals do. It’s entertaining enough, I suppose, even if the plot is trying to do *way* too much. (IMO it would have benefited from another round of editing.) But best book of the year or any of the other superlatives people have been throwing in its direction? Agree to disagree.
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Body shaming, Suicide, Death of parent, Child death, and Misogyny
Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Domestic abuse
mdwsn27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Child death, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault
jaychayka7777's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Child death
mac_acab's review against another edition
4.0
(Please note that there are instances of sexual assault and death in this book if you were planning on reading it. I won't mention anything in the review but it's worth noting for future readers.)
I'm delighted and surprised with how much I liked this book. I did have to read it slowly, almost in episodes (I could see an argument for a TV adaptation of it a la The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but even more clever, though I probably wouldn't want what's her face (Amy Sherman-Palladino? I think) writing it just because she'd relegate the dialogue to 100 lines a minute. That would defeat the charm of this book.) In fact, the charm of the book comes from characters who are frankly tired of everyone in the world deflecting and sugarcoating (which i tend to think happens in Gilmore-Girls-esque scripts more than intended) and that is always nice. It needs mid-tempo reflection. Me too, honestly.
I think science is fascinating. I loved the incessant adoration of rowing. And the damn dog (God, this book is really white. But I forgive it because food science with heart and I also happened to pick up erging recently.) And though a lot of the plot needed aspects of Calvin Evans to move forward, I forgive it, because Elizabeth Zott is guileless and a force of nature any way you spin it.
Anyways, it's very matter of fact and I was quite charmed with it.
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Death
pinkleum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Sexism, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Suicide, Vomit, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident
Minor: Child death, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Homophobia
alisonannk's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Pedophilia, Abandonment, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Grief, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, and Infidelity
thebabybookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Minor: Suicide, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death of parent, Sexism, Death, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Child death