Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Lessons in Chemistry

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

451 reviews

bites_of_books's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad fast-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? Yes

4.0

This book was a gift from one of my best friends and I breezed through it!

Narratively there were a couple of things that seemed a bit forced, things that took me out of the story because they were presented in a way that just didn't fully work for me. That being said, I think the characters were really unique and interesting with really complex motivations. I liked the outspoken main character who sticks to her values and doesn't let romance or anything else get in the way of the things that matter most to her.

All in all this is a story of a chemist who happens to be a woman in the 1950s and all the obstacles that she must overcome to reach her goals. On the way she finds love, family, and friends, which was quite satisfying to read about. However, it's not an easy read there are difficult topics that are pretty hard to read so do check content warnings before reading!

Content Warnings

skylarkblue1's review against another edition

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This was a slog to read through. I did not give a crap about any characters and apparently all feminist fiction is now just "look! this woman's life sucks! she's so smart but she's just constantly explicitly abused and shit all the time!". The blurb is complete false advertising, I got to the 50% mark and the only mention of the cooking show was a paragraph to 2 at the very very start. TV industry has been mentioned a single time since. The story so far has just been the main character being abused, screamed at and being depressed with a shitty husband.

There's just constant POV changes to everyone and everything - including the goddamn dog. It's not split up by chapters, it'd just be one paragraph is from one character, the next from someone completely different. I could not tell you what year any of the events that happened are from. I could not even really tell you all the different characters and who they where as people because honestly most of them didn't feel like people. The guys where mainly just misogynistic pricks, though some liked rowing! but that was about it for them. The women where mainly just "I'm being looked down on and abused but I'm secretly smart!" or just, idk, like not wanting to challenge the status quo so they where even flatter than that?

I'm reading this for a book club but even though there's still multiple days before the meeting I just don't care enough to read more. I don't even care about the cooking show element which was super interesting to me when I first heard about it.

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ofi's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

i thought the six-thirty pov episode of the series was the saddest thing i’d ever seen but then i read the book every single line in his pov is much much worse. six-thirty i would give my life for you

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mjeanette_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

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tehstorm's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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subi_doobi_doo's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Great introduction to feminist literature. Really connects the reader with the indignation and frustration of women in the 60s/in patriarchal societies.

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katlinstirling_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense 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? N/A

5.0

I loved this book I’m not gonna lie. I loved the way it was written, I loved the characters and the storyline everything! Completely heartbreaking in parts and I was so angry with the sex discrimination and abuse towards women, I did actually throw the book a few times! I don’t care what anyone says this is a 5-star read to me!! ❤️

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