It starts with two words: pink and blue.
Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus
Genre: Historical Fiction
About: Pursuing a career in science in the early 1960s was not something women did, as a rule. But Elizabeth Zott doesn't care for rules that favour men for no discernible reason. She's a chemist. Not a wife, not a secretary, and not interested in making anyone a coffee - unless she happens to have her Bunsen burner on already.
The Good
I flew through this book. Chapters and scenes are fairly short making it easy to move through the story. We also change POV quite a bit and this gives an interesting insight into how characters see their roles and what prejudices society has taught them. Men are not the only sexist characters we come across and this really adds to the realism. I also thought the dog POV was extremely clever to add in. It infuriated me to see how society viewed women's abilities, but then I would catch myself doing the same downgrade to the dog. Six-Thirty is an incredible smart dog that is often underestimated, given limitations and overall seen as less-than. Early on, I dismissed him as an over-the-top fictionalised version of an animal's abilities, but actually this is a fantastic representation of how women were constantly being dismissed at the time. Elizabeth Zott is the only one who truly sees Six-Thirty for who he is, just as she knows who she is. Together, they're a force to be reckoned with.
I loved the nuances of the characters and how their relationships change over time. The writing is brilliant, it would in equal measure have me fuming over the sexism, to laughing out loud because the characterisations were so picture perfect.
The Bad
I thought the ending was a bit rushed. There's a lot of set-up and hints that Calvin's backstory is important but it all gets revealed in a tiny lab scene that didn't feel as satisfying as it could have. If the reveal had happened earlier on and we'd been given some time to see Elizabeth in her new role I think that could have been really empowering and cool to see.
The Somewhat Iffy
Elizabeth is sometimes shown as a bit out-of-touch/naïve, but then other times seems to understand how the world works perfectly. Walter keeps trying to get her to 'play ball' and meet him in the middle for the network's vision of the show, but she acts as if she doesn't understand what they want. I would have rather she'd acknowledged what the network wants, and then gone against it, than pretend as if she could have a reasonable conversation with the network's boss to sort out their differences. Whereas it's a completely different Elizabeth when an interviewer asks her why she didn't complain about her previous boss - in that moment she doesn't take the interviewer seriously because she knows the system is rigged against her.
Overall
This is such a charming read. It starts as a meet-cute that spirals into an emotional ride. The ups and downs had me devouring the pages.
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