Review by dailybaileyk - Lessons in Chemistry

dailybaileyk 's review for:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

4.5

challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a quick read because I couldn’t put the book down once I got past the first few chapters.

As someone who reads a lot of non-fiction, I can see how some people would see this book, and it protagonist, as a caricature of what feminism would have been like during that period of time. Despite that, it has a “feel good” tone. I would recommend this book to someone who maybe wants to start getting into non-fiction/feminism readings but wants an engaging story. My personal bias, as someone who is currently learning to unmask (and no, I am not assuming the protagonist is autistic, just pointing out my disorder and her personality present similar symptoms), appreciated how the book painted someone who was so opinionated, set in her ways, did NOT people please and knew her work. Seeing a protagonist exhibit those behaviors did warrant consequences you would (unfortunately) expect to see, but as the book continues you see what happens when the world lets people like that grow.

I saw discourse online that a lot of people thought the women in the book were reduced to “stupid” or “not as enlightened” as the main character but I think that’s not true. Given what we know about women’s rights during that time frame the book does a good job of showing why women make the choices they did.

but almost every single one gets a “redemption arc” or learns and grows and challenges their circumstances. Which in my opinion shows their ability to asses their surrounds and change in a world that would see them stay “stupid”.

Now, a few issues with the book. The jumping around between years, characters and places sometimes confused me and I had to re-read sections incase I missed something but once I read more I would understand(for the most part, sometimes I just assumed what was happening).

Calvin was also extremely infuriating, maybe I’m too far down the feminism rabbit hole but the way the protagonist depicted him as someone who truly understood her didn’t make sense to me because everything he did SEEMED self serving. He would lie when he felt appropriate, say things just to appease her, ignore her requests and do way he wants anyways. I think it was maybe meant to be a “he’s perfect for her but he’s still just a man in the 60s” but man he grinded my gears a few times.

And the ending, I knew what was coming, could see it from a mile away, but I was left wanting more. It wrapped up nicely, it’s just one of those instances where you know where it’s going and you want them to get to the point but there is so much dialogue/misunderstanding that’s it’s frustrating to power through and hard to resist the urge to skip ahead. (Again this may just be my autistic brain at work but for me I know I skimmed ahead a bit)

Overall a great read. Some very difficult and potentially very triggering topics and scenes especially given our current political client (in the year of 2025). But interesting and entertaining. I can see why a tv show was produced.

Content Warnings