Reviews with content warning for Death - Lessons in Chemistry

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

1275 reviews

worm_on_the_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Holy fuck. Wow. Just… wow. This book had me feeling so much, anger, frustration, hope, sadness, it had it all.
The writing style was quirky which reflected the quirkiness of Elizabeth and I just loved the story from start to finish. In fact, I usually don’t like books written in a non-linear kinda fashion, but Bonnie Garmus has done a superb job in weaving this story.
This book had me gripped pretty much from the first page, I couldn’t put it down, and when I had to put it down I just thought about it.
Not only did this book have me feeling things, it also made me think, truly think, about how this book isn’t set that long ago, and how this was the reality for women. I don’t think I’ve read a book in this era that quite handles it the way Bonnie Garmus did.
Once again I will say wow, just wow.

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rubberrosebooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book with every fiber of my being. I just couldn't put this down! The writing, the story itself, the characters, the connection to real life issues, the portrayal of grief, and of course, Six-Thirty 🩷

This is by far my newest favorite book of all time, and I hope to read many more novels by Bonnie in the future. The research to write this beautifully powerful story deserves five stars in and of itself. I'm looking forward to watching the t.v. series, but nothing will compare to the poetic writing of Bonnie Garmus.

Do yourself a favor and put this at the TOP of your TBR list!

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afternoondreamer's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

This was a wild ride for me. I finished the book soo quickly and couldn't get myself to put it down. Its such an emotional story: funny, sad and anger-inducing at the same time. You really find yourself rooting for the main character and her loved ones.

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missdanielle's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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gluntv's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring medium-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

4.25

the flipping between narrators was a little annoying to me as I sometimes couldn’t figure out who it was. overall enjoyed the book and loved the rowing representation even if it was a bit corny

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lotta_8's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book made me so angry. But in a good way. It was a very enjoyable read and I finished the book with a sigh of relief of the fact that I live in 2023 and in Western Europe. The amount and ways of discrimination women have faced and often still face in countless countries and places is portrayed in an excruciatingly realistic way.

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killerwhaletank's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

There is one word for this book: tedious. I really don’t get the hype around it, I thought it was a slog. It is also not funny or romantic or humorous. I found most of the book quite sad.

To be fair, it’s not horrible but I did not connect with the characters. I never warmed up to Elizabeth or Calvin or their brief romance. The majority of the cast in book is extremely unpleasant to Elizabeth and there aren’t many “good” characters in the book. (Sometimes I can’t blame them because I find both Elizabeth and Calvin unpleasant as well.) There are a few supporting cast members (her TV producer, her neighbour, a little bit of the Reverend) that save the book from just being a few hundred pages of “everyone in the world other than Elizabeth and Calvin are completely unenlightened a$$holes”.

Yes, the dog is unbelievably anthropomorphic. If you can’t handle that, you’ll hate it. I actually enjoyed that part. I wasn’t sure at first about it, but the dog ended up being the most interesting and probably well-rounded character in the book, and really grew on me.

Yes, the daughter is an unbelievable level of genius. If you can’t handle that you’ll hate it too. I didn’t love it, but next to the dog, Mad was probably the next most rounded character. I rolled my eyes more than a few times.

I really hated that most of the men that featured in the story were basically rapists and jerks except for one or two. And speaking of rapists… trigger warning, there are not one, not two, but three separate instances of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, or references to past sexual assaults in this book. Does it inform Elizabeth’s character at all? No, not really, except that it’s the story to why she always has a pencil behind her ear? For the level of trauma and effect it had on her life, I didn’t think it was really dealt with at all.

And for the religion part of it… I am not a religious person, but I don’t care if others are. Even as a non-religious person, I found this book’s anti-religion message kind of grating. It wasn’t because of the message itself, but it left me with the impression that the author thought anyone who believes in religion is somehow lesser than Elizabeth and her super wonderful woke and enlightened way of seeing the world.

Overall, meh. I don’t recommend it and found it a slog to get through. But, I can see where others would enjoy it, so if you did love the book, I wouldn’t be staging an intervention for you or anything… It just wasn’t for me as there was no one to really feel connected to.

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