Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Lessons in Chemistry

5 stars, no questions asked. This book hit in all the right places. Elizabeth Zott is now in my mental index of favourite characters of all time. It’s a book about a scientist with a cooking show…but really it’s a book about deep love, persistence, inner strength, being dealt a bad hand, and doing the right thing anyway. Lessons in Chemistry will be hard to top this year.

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emray14's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Elizabeth was a self centered, egotistical woman who genuinely seemed to have no care for the way in which her actions might affect those she cares about. Elizabeth continuously bashes stay at home moms and women in non-science fields, which is contradictory to her insistence that women can be anything (just so long as she approves). The book gives just two sentences to racism and one sentence to homophobia. Her weird ass comparison of her interest in science to her dead brother’s queerness wholly misses the mark.

The sweet moments were sweet and the sad moments were sad. When it wants to be emotional, it succeeds beautifully. The format was fun to read, what with all the changing povs, but the graphic sexual assault scene and Elizabeth’s selfishness kept this could-be fantastic book from reaching 5 stars.

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madzie's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

1.0

Despite a wonderful idea, Garmus's popular novel fails to deliver on every account. Garmus promises a book about the experience of women, but with an unbearable protagonist and little exploration, Garmus never dives into what sexism feels like nor its real causes and reactions. In fact, the main character refuses to demonstrate any real growth in the book at all. Character relationships are always told rather than shown, making the reader hollow when the horrible, melodramatic plot points occur to them. Although Garmus introduces deep topics, she seems to lack the courage or the understanding to explore them with substance, instead having her main character be randomly bothered by instances in her past only to move on a sentence or two later. Plot points are randomly thrown into the novel with no consideration of how they affect the characters or the themes, leaving an unsatisfactory journey. Without this deep exploration and path, Garmus never says anything profound about her themes and certainly never touches real women in their trials and tribulations.

Additionally, Garmus's writing style is subpar at best. She seems to believe her readers are stupid as she tells them absolutely everything in frank detail and covers it over with big "sciency" words, never allowing the writing to breathe. Her sentences are simple and often boringly strung together, never giving vivid detail to her world to allow the reader to experience it. Occasionally, she'll hit gold with a particular line, but overall, she seems to favor hovering over everything just to produce a mess of thoughts. In the end, the novel reads like a string of random ideas never actually explored in depth—the substance of a first draft but not of a good novel.

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