A review by kalisaur
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

While very readable, I found certain parts of this cringey. Do you have to make sexual assault so prevalent to show the strength of patriarchy within mid-century society? No. Do chemists actually refer to water and salt by their chemical names in their daily life? I doubt it. Must a woman be stiff and socially inept simply because she is intelligent? Of course not. The story ended with a nice happy bow on it, which I never favor. Perhaps due to its popularity I expected more out of the novel but it was merely okay to me. Also I felt the rowing was shoehorned in simply because it seemed to be the only thing related to the author, who is neither a chemist nor a chef.
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