A review by camiclarkbooks
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

emotional funny hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

I went into “Lessons in Chemistry” not really knowing by what it was about. I thought it was a STEM romance, then I saw some clips from the Apple TV adaptation that made me reconsider. Am I glad I did!

Garmus wrote a funny, informative, often irreverent but heartfelt story about women in the 1950s and 1960s. There was romance woven through the story but it wasn’t the primary focus of the book. It was part coming of age and part hilarious slice of life and part anything you can think of, really. I’ve never read a book quite like “Lessons in Chemistry” and I’m not sure I will again.  

I normally go into historical fiction with some amount of suspicion—I work in the history field and usually have enough knowledge to notice (and be bothered by) large or repeated inaccuracies. 

The most common inaccuracy I come across in historical fiction is pushing obviously modern opinions and viewpoints onto the characters, usually on the female main character. Our female main character, Elizabeth Zott, has very modern sensibilities. But this has been the only time that it wasn’t glaring out of place or poorly executed. It made perfect sense that she would hold viewpoints similar to women in the twenty first century, because of how well Garmus developed her character. 
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