Book 60/30.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Children, set the table. Your mother needs a moment to herself.
I was Enchanted to end my best ever reading year with Lessons in Chemistry as it won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Debut Novel, was the first runner up for Best Historical Fiction, and was adapted into a TV miniseries by Apple TV with Brie Larson in the lead role 🤩
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with – of all things – her mind. True chemistry results.
Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (‘combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride’) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
This book was a great choice to end my 2023 reading challenge on because I am a feminist AF‼ The story and setting set my feminist heart ablaze, the writing was fun and easy to read, and I loved Elizabeth. She was fearless in the face of adversity, stayed true to herself and never let others intimidate her into being anything other than herself. Her support system were all so endearing and my favourite of them (who I loved even more than Elizabeth) was easily Six-Thirty. Yes, my favourite character in the novel was a dog. Turns out I am really into anthropomorphism when it is done well 😅
Looking at Goodreads reviews, the most common criticisms from reviewers who did not enjoy this are:
1. Elizabeth’s abrasive personality as they wonder why can’t she be brilliant AND beautiful without being naive, socially awkward and devoid of emotion.
2. Elizabeth read like a mouthpiece for modern day feminists as her views and actions did not ring true to her era, regardless of how progressive she was.
3. All the men in the novel, with a few exceptions here and there, were nasty, hateful misogynists and it came across as very male-bashing.
While there is merit to the criticisms, I still enjoyed this Bonnie Garmus debut which follows the fate of brilliant Elizabeth Zott, who uses her success as a chemist—and later, an unlikely cooking show star—to change the status quo for women in repressive 1960s America well enough to rate it 4 stars.
View all my reviews
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 