A review by cheryl_gager
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

challenging emotional inspiring 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

3.75

I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought as it is not my normal genre and style of book. I did struggle to get lost in it the way that makes me love a book, but the writing was so easy and compelling I could not like the book. A lot of the book made me angry and frustrated, with the sexism and misogyny, especially knowing that this is what women truly faced during the 1950s and 1960s and what some women still experience in some industries. I liked Elizabeth a lot and the way she influenced those women and made them believe in themselves and see themselves as something more made me so happy. I really liked the dog as well, though reading about what he was thinking and feeling was a bit weird and then made me loose that bit of connection. Overall, I would recommend this book as it did a really good job at tackling the subject and looking back at sexism at that time, but it did not give me what I want from a book and that is a me thing rather than the books problem.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, and Grief

Moderate: Eating disorder and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Within the first couple of chapters a sexual assault/attempted rape takes place which is shocking and an attempted rape takes place later on in the book. The book is full of sexism and misogyny as it is looking at a woman in the 1950s and 1960s trying to make it in the field of science, dealing with being an unwed single mother and going against the gender norm for that period of time.