Reviews with content warning for Grief - Eine Frage der Chemie

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Eine Frage der Chemie by Bonnie Garmus

539 reviews

mirthedh's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

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

2.0

I love the message the book is trying to convey, but to me the main character seems to be portayed too much as a stereotype of women in science

(calculating her child's nutrients, takes everything literally, gets asked a question about 6:30 and starts to mansplain our timing system)

. While the topics the story touches on are/were very realistic issues, I (as a woman in science) couldn't relate to Elizabeth's scientific way of handling life at all. To be fair I liked pretty much all of the side characters more than I liked Elizabeth, especially the dog. I understand what the author was trying to convey, but to me it seems ironic that Elizabeth is trying to break a certain stereotype, while she is portrayed as a stereotype herself.

The book has a very wholesome ending tho, I'll give it that.

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bethaniesherwood's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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abirej's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.75

How can I even describe how wonderful this book is? Most of the time I stay away from 3rd person omniscient but this is an example of a WELL DONE pov. I adore Elizabeth Zott. This story is told perfectly, everything revealed at e x a c t l y the right time.

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snazzy10101's review against another edition

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5.0

this book deserves every award it has and more.
i feel represented by Elizabeth Zott and also by the need to want to know someone who died more than you did when they were alive.

i’m so emotional.

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halfcactus's review against another edition

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4.0

Read this because I saw Angela's rating and got curious haha I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! It had a lot of things I did not like—canonically very attractive female lead, quirky romcom elements, anthropomorphized talking dog, and exceptionally precocious genius daughter—but surprisingly it all ended up working for me in the end. That, or I just get desensitized to it haha.

The main character is pretty much a Mary Sue in every way you can imagine—she's quirky, she's highly intelligent, she's conventionally attractive and charismatic, she conquers labor pains by erging everyday, and she's Definitely Not Racist—but she is all of these things to criticize the flaws of a patriarchal and ignorantly religious society, so it didn't really bother me. Okay, the white savior bits kind of made me raise my eyebrows, as did the fridging of an offscreen gay character to make a Point about homophobia and give a straight character a Traumatic Backstory, but I just skimmed through them.

The science/STEM storylines felt more like TV science, but tbh everything about this book felt like TV logic, and I'm not knowledgeable enough in either the field or the subject to make a comment on it. Would not recommend it as a realistic depiction of STEM struggles, however.

CW: Rape, sexual assault... a "bury your gays" fridging subplot

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