Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Lessons in Chemistry

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

54 reviews

reiverse's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved this book!

Content Warnings

chloemakesbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.0

This won me over. A little too neat, but laugh-out-loud and tear-jerker moments included. Ending was abrupt.

Content Warnings

aggie24's review

Go to review page

challenging sad 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

3.5

Content Warnings

notreadkat's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.5

To be completely honest this book would’ve been a lot higher for me if the politics of this book wasn’t so secular.
For a character that is overt in her feminism and support and enthusiasm to recognise the hard work and struggle being a woman is in an oppressive society, This book fails to fully consider every women, more specifically speaking Black and poc women. It’s especially frustrating and painfully clear because the main character does mention segregation and racism but that’s it, only mentions. For a book published in 2022 that battles the themes of societal issues more specifically sexism I would expect all women to be included not only ones that look like the author. Along with the time period of when the book is set (segregation, Jim Crow and Civil rights) makes it the perfect environment and setting to have such commentary about the struggles of being a women of colour.
This book is good and well written but it’s only from a white perspective. Being published in 2022 with the themes that’s it has I am disappointed that this books beliefs only include white feminism.

*content warning* - discussion about rape.

Another major gripe I had with this book is how the characters react to the sexual violence they face, more specifically speaking rape.

or more so the main characters rape.

I find that the book will make the characters go through these horrific events that will affect them whilst the scene is happening but not further than that.
I wish the book portrayed how sexual violence isn’t just a bad memory that can effect you socially but, is also a prolonged traumatic memory or experience that bleeds and affects your everyday life and is not just limited to social.

Zott’s rape feels like something that just happened to her and not something extremely traumatic she went through. She shows no sign of being further affected by this rape and in fact is more affected by Calvin’s death. Doing a disservice to the trauma of being raped

this mischaracterisation of how sexual violence (SV) persists throughout life, feels especially personal to myself as a SA victim and to what I assume many other people who this violence has been committed against. As I feel the way the author writes the symbolism

-the pencil-

for rape feels more like a girlboss empowerment symbol rather than the act of desperation that it was.

*discussions of content warning over*

Overall the book is extremely well written and The characters arcs do come full circle, with statifying conclusions.
I personally would rate it a lot higher if what I previously criticised and mentioned wasn’t as serious as a topic and theme that they are, as I believe they deserve full well rounded, educated and all inclusive discussions about them.

Content Warnings

lillianannivey's review against another edition

Go to review page

Hated it. Did not care to finish.

Content Warnings

lizzyjean's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book had me on my toes from the very beginning. I have never read a book that has such an accurate grasp of humanity and how we should include everyone despite different sexes, religions, races, and sexualities. Elizabeth Zott and (almost…) every character in this book has a permanent place in my heart, and I hope to read more by Bonnie Garmus in the future.

Content Warnings

21books's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

Omg my new favorite book 10/10 recommend

Content Warnings

xoxlululuxox's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry is such an accomplished piece of writing, which makes it all the more astonishing that it's by a debut author (albeit one with a lot of life experience behind her).

This novel started slow (and dark - readers should be aware [I wasn't] that

there is a violent, graphic sexual assault

before you hit page 50), but once it got going, it grabbed hold of me and did not let go.

Elizabeth Zott is such an incredible main character - tough, uncompromising, fiercely intelligent, and strong-willed (almost too much so, there were times I wished she would bend just a little, but no, she would not), but she did have a gentler side which I appreciated reading about.

Elizabeth needs every bit of willpower, because number one, she was a scientist, and number two, she was an unmarried woman living in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, a time which did not look kindly on women, particularly women who did not fit their prescribed stereotypes.

Fair warning to readers that the misogyny in this book is extreme, infuriatingly so. It comes from not only men but some women too. The sexism was so overwhelmingly awful at times that I had to stop and wonder if it actually was as terrible as Garmus depicts. I'm not sure, but I know that women definitely got a raw deal in this period of history.

The other infuriating thing to read about was so many of the terrible events in the novel could have been prevented if certain people had been less greedy, small-minded, or desperate. But then I guess there wouldn't have been a story, so go figure.

There were a few things that didn't quite work for me. The switches between POV characters would often occur within the same section, and even in the same paragraph at times, which was jarring as I would need to figure out whose POV I was reading.

Also, the POV of Elizabeth's

dog, Six Thirty

was a good idea in theory but didn't work on the page.

Would a dog really have that many thoughts going on in his/her brain?

I also found it hard to believe the advanced intelligence of

Elizabeth's daughter, Madeline. But then I guess some rare children really are that gifted, so I suppose it's not entirely implausible. But still.

Anyway, overall this was a really great read, albeit one with some pretty dark themes - I would advise prospective readers to check the content warnings.

Content Warnings

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

More...