What an absolute joy Lessons in Chemistry was to read! I'm confidently expecting that it will become the feel-good hit of the season.

That said, it's not a book full of sunshine and kittens by any means - terrible and unfair things happen to the central character and her nearest and dearest on a frequent basis. But Elizabeth Zott is such an effervescent and inspiring character that one can't help but get caught up in her story and cheer her on.

While there's a delightful sense of wonder as we follow Elizabeth, her hilariously precocious daughter Mad and their remarkably perceptive pet dog, Six-Thirty, in their very untraditional - for the 1960s - lives, there is a deeper current to the story. Author Bonnie Garmus explores issues including sexism, gender roles, social mores around marriage and parenthood, the impact of childhood and family trauma, the importance of community and the courage necessary to stand up and change things for the better.

Any reader who believes in gender equality will feel rightly agitated throughout the course of the book, but it's ultimately an uplifting and heart-warming story, featuring a central cast of wonderful characters, doing their best when faced with some genuinely horrible villains.

I'd highly recommend Lessons in Chemistry to any reader, female or male, who enjoys mid-century historical fiction, luminous characters and the us-against-the-world trope. It's a fabulous read, to which I fear I really cannot do justice in this review.

My heartfelt thanks to the author, Bonnie Garmus, publishers Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book in advance of its publication on 5 April 2022.

This book received such great reviews that I though it would be a "must read," so I bought it. It is nothing but disappointing. I'm a critical reader, and was put off by the trite writing and sloppy use of the English language. The central character, Elizabeth, is a one-dimensional female counterpart of Sheldon Cooper (on Big Bang Theory). Her child prodigy daughter, who, at the age of 4, converses like a college-educated adult, and a dog that thinks in English and thinks like a human both are outlandish. And the endless descriptions of rowing put me to sleep. It became a little more interesting toward the end of the book, but even the ending was predictable. If you enjoy situation comedies such as The Goldbergs, you probably will like this book. If you enjoy reading beautiful descriptive passages, and about memorable and likeable characters, don't waste your time and money on this book.

Thanks to NetGalley & Doubleday Books for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This novel, a debut no less, was all over the place for me. Funny, satirical, sad, ironic, entertaining, witty, with elements of fantasy and feminism. And don't forget the magic realism of the dog. So did I like the novel and how would I rate it? I'm giving it 4 stars - read my review to find out why.

Cleverly written with a quirky and memorable heroine, this is the story of chemist Elizabeth Zott. In the 1950s, when the story begins, it was very nearly impossible to be anything but a housewife/mother, nurse, or secretary. But Elizabeth fights against stereotypes throughout the novel - whether it's cooking, rowing, motherhood, or chemistry. Elizabeth's on-the-spectrum personality (literal, headstrong, blunt) propels the plot.

And the plot is brilliant - things happen and people connect (and reconnect) in ways that both surprised me and had me admiring how the author fit everything together. There were several provoking aspects to the story - some of which were the way people misunderstood each other, the sexist attitudes, and how some characters fought against and often overcame the 1950s cultural norms.

What gives the novel depth is that the story is told from different characters' points of view, including Six-Thirty, the dog. And these characters were compelling. The reader learns what each is thinking, and why, and we can often anticipate the way things will be misunderstood, which makes for laughs as well as sighs.

While the book contains a great deal of wit, as another reviewer mentioned, there are serious issues including brutal abuse which is described in detail, and a suicide due to homophobia. And the sexism is rampant which unfortunately was how it was back in the 1950s, with some areas still troublesome today. But in the end the bad guys get their comeuppance, with loose ends tied up, providing a satisfying conclusion.

"Pregnancy is a normal condition. It is not disgraceful. It is how every human being starts."
"How DARE you," he said, his voice rising. "A women telling ME what pregnancy is. Who do you think you are?"
She seems surprised by the question. "A women," she said.

This was brilliant! A raw a gripping portrayal of a women living in the 1960s, a time dominated by men and media dictating women to be wives, mothers, uneducated, obliging, cook this clean that, robots and how Elizabeth Zott, a research chemist fights against this male enforced stereotyped mentality. As her tv show "supper at six" becomes more a lesson in chemistry and grows in popularity for empowering women, she must also fight off the men on the sideline Le trying to dictate to her the way a "real women should act". This was fantastic!