Lessons in Chemistry: The multi-million-copy bestseller

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Ironically, I think this might work better as a sit-com than a book. It has elements of Stepford Wives and Desperate Housewives, with a dash of Edward Scissorhands. But there's also one thing that ratchets up the ridiculous factor: the use of chemistry. God, the use of chemistry. I want to give this to a chemist so they choke to death on their own spit. To be clear, I'm not a pedant, or not too much of one - I don't care if literary fiction for nonspecialists is perfect on every point of chemistry. I care that its idea of a hyperintelligent chemist is one that says 'pass the sodium chloride' instead of 'pass the salt,' or sometimes calls water 'H2O', or calls vinegar 'acetic acid' (which is like calling orange juice 'citric acid', they're not the same thing), or says that they 'almost lost an atom in the isomerization process' while baking (what???). Madeline makes 'mud pies' by drawing 3.1415 in the mud. It's a very teenage nerd kind of approach, with an accompanying shot of the aforementioned edgelord atheism, and an instance of Elizabeth Publicly Owning a vegetarian by saying plants are also alive. In a couple of episodes of the programme, I glimpsed what a good implementation of the chemistry conceit might look like (the one with potato skin and glycoalkaloids was good), but too often it's cringe - particularly the extended metaphor around 'bonds' or the book's steadfast conviction that saying 'we had chemistry' is a deep and powerful statement. When Elizabeth Zott is growing up… the only thing she knows for certain is that she likes science. During the 1960s, while she was working at the Hastings Institute on groundbreaking research in abiogenesis – gender equality was nonexistent (even among scientists who should know better.) Life takes her through unexpected turns into falling in love with her co-worker Calvin Evans. Years later, as a single mother, Elizabeth finds herself the star of a live cooking show: Supper at Six. With her… unique… approach to cooking and can-do-attitude… Elizabeth finds herself teaching women more than to cook. She’s teaching them to value themselves and change the world. Patriarchy, pencils in the hair (see cover art of some editions), sexual assault, rowing (boats, not arguments), a kindergarten family-tree project, and the corrupting power of money all feature prominently. If you don’t take the book too seriously and literally then you might love, it. If you try to analyse all the messages and connect it to your personal situation, then you might tear it apart.

So far this book is really amazing at about 40% of the way in. I'm really really loving it -- but then I also felt that way about Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow so we shall see. Lessons in Chemistry was the GoodReads 2022 Debut Novel of the Year, and Garmus is one to watch if this novel is her debut. 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 as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes 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.

The synopsis describes this book as “laugh out loud funny”, recommended for fans of Where’d You Go Bernadette and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Her blunt and honest comments about marriage, religion, and society's norms will be considered rebellious and unconventional.

In my experience— I never had a problem. I wasn’t sexually harassed — nobody put their hand up my skirt unless I wanted them to . I was never patted on the head or belittle for being less than. Lessons in Chemistry is such a powerful book without being preachy, and I greatly look forward to reading this one again.

In front of a live audience, Elizabeth uses her platform to not only teach women about the chemistry of cooking, but about life being more important than cooking! It's about following your dream of having a family and a career just like men do! There is a wonderful sense of nostalgia created by the author and a lot of members of the club became very remeniscent of the past and their memories and shared experiences that were shown in the book (both positive and negative). Overall, you’ll have gathered that I think this debut is amazing and I urge you to read it. It has every ingredient of a book that fascinates, delights, charms and engages. If for nothing else read it for Six-Thirty ... and to find his out he gets his name cos I’m not saying!! the message is a worthy one. A woman ahead of her time in STEM who must fight the status quo in a male dominated world. But I think the message would have been stronger and more authentic if it had been realistic. There’s a lot of exaggeration and preposterous situations to drive a point home, which is not my favorite storytelling technique. But 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.

Image: A mixed pair of rowers: students Jodie Cameron and Ryan Glymond at the 2021 British Championships ( Source) The premise of the book is really quite different and the author brings out the key characters really well. There's lots of self-conscious quirk, some of which fits the period more plausibly than others, and much of it is based on stereotypes played for laughs, rather than realism. Like Elizabeth, my 20-something is a scientist at heart, with a passion for cooking. They've extended their skills beyond anything I've taught them by structured research and experimentation around the chemical reactions involved. But even they wouldn't call salt “sodium chloride” (except perhaps as a one-off joke), let alone vinegar by... whatever the chemical name was Elizabeth used on her TV show.I'm a staunch feminist and I agreed and/or recognised most issues, still, I just found this novel annoying, heavy-handed, and way too on the nose.