Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Keeping with my academic theme for my September posts, my next review is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Last week, I reviewed The Love Hypothesis which focuses on women in STEM. Click here to read my review. Lessons in Chemistry is a novel about academia and the sexism women face between their careers and motherhood.

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

Lessons in Chemistry is the GMA Book Club Pick for April 2022. I picked it as an add-on for my May Book of the Month box. This is a debut novel by Bonnie Garmus. It is currently being adapted for an Apple TV+ Series with Brie Larson!

REVIEW

I loved this one! When I first saw reviews, I kept seeing it listed as historical fiction and didn’t know what to expect going into the book. This book is filled with such depth and understanding of the female plight in a male-dominated world. It is disheartening and gut-wrenching at times, but is such a powerful and enjoyable read! Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott who is a highly intelligent female immersed in sexist workplace politics in the sciences in the 1950s and 1960s.

After facing tragedy and being catapulted into single motherhood, Elizabeth has to find a way to make a living when she is let go from her job. After she is forced out of the academic world of research and scientific discovery, she finds work as a television host for a cooking show through a connection at her daughter’s school. Although not a job she necessarily likes, she brings her unique personality and disposition to the role as she teaches her audience the chemistry behind the cooking process. She is notorious for saying things like “pass the sodium chloride” (Garmus 61) instead of salt.

“I’m not going to pretend that sucrose is an essential ingredient required for our well-being, but I personally feel better when I eat it. ”

— Elizabeth, Lessons in Chemistry, (Garmus 338)

Throughout the novel, Elizabeth faces discrimination in her pursuit of academic endeavors but demonstrates an unflappable disposition as she finds ways to promote her true passion, chemistry, into her work on television. As a female host of a cooking show, Supper at Six, in the 1960s, she is expected to embody an outdated, patriarchal role of a housewife by having dinner on the table for her kids and husband. She faces ridicule, jealousy, and discrimination for being intelligent and also unmarried with a child as she is a single mother. Her infamous line for concluding her show, Supper at Six, is “Children set the table. Your mother needs a moment to herself.” She understands the effect of gendered expectations placed upon women to be the sole caretaker in the home.

“Chemistry is inseparable from life —by it’s very definition, chemistry is life. But like your pie, life requires a strong base. In your home, you are that base. It is an enormous responsibility, the most undervalued job in the world, that nonetheless, holds everything together.”

— Elizabeth, Lessons in Chemistry (Garmus 258-9)

A continuous theme throughout the book is the impact of sexism on women. Elizabeth challenges the patriarchal sexist traditions at the time, mid-twentieth century when women experienced disdain for not being housewives. She continues to promote equality between genders in how she raises her daughter and how she approaches her work. She chooses to educate women through her show to challenge the stereotype perpetuated in society that women’s only role in life is in the home.

“I wanted to use Supper at Six to teach chemistry. Because when women understand chemistry, they begin to understand how things work…When women understand these basic concepts, they can begin to see the false limits that have been created for them.”

— Elizabeth, Lessons in Chemistry (Garmus 331)

Another theme is the importance of education for women. Elizabeth values her education and understanding of the sciences as it allows her to transcend the glass ceiling of being an undervalued housewife when she wants to pursue a career.

“Men and women are both human beings. And as humans, we’re byproducts of our upbringings, victims of our lackluster educational systems, and choosers of our behaviors. In short, the reduction of women to something less than men, and the elevation of men to something more than women, is not biological: it’s cultural. And it starts with two words: pink and blue. Everything skyrockets out of control from there.”

— Elizabeth, Lessons in Chemistry (Garmus 238)

Lastly, one of the best parts of the book is her dog, named Six-Thirty. He is the star of the book in my opinion! She trains her dog to learn words and commands. He is a loveable creature that Elizabeth adopts after he is discharged from the canine-bomb sniffing unit since the noises of the explosions frightened him too severely. As the reader, you see Six-Thirty’s running internal dialogue as he has a greater propensity for understanding Elizabeth’s thoughts and feelings as she copes with loss, personal tragedy, sexism, and motherhood in a world that is less than kind to her. While I did not expect this element of the book as the dog is anthropomorphized throughout the novel, it adds a unique element that I really enjoyed.

Just know going into this one there are some content warnings (sexism, sexual assault, and death of a loved one).

RATING

This is 5 stars and a definite recommendation!

Highly recommend it and would absolutely read it again.

Lessons in Chemistry is available through a Book of the Month subscription box.

CURRENTLY READING

I have a few e-books going right now. I’m currently reading The Family Remains, the sequel to The Family Upstairs, which was just recently released. I also got This Time Tomorrow back from the library since I was unable to read the entire e-book during my first loan and hope to finish it soon. I’m still reading Beartown too since it is a long book!

The other night, I started Killers of a Certain Age from my September BOTM box and loving it so far! From all of these books, I think I am going to have a few more to review soon.

I started listening to a few audiobooks this week, but haven’t landed on one that is holding my interest quite yet. Sometimes that happens!

UP NEXT

I have one more book set in an academic setting to review. It is going to be adapted for television too!

Connect with me on Instagram to see what I’m reading!