OCTOBER BOOK REVIEW - LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY
On October 21st we discussed ‘Lessons in Chemistry’, the hugely popular and successful debut novel by Bobbie Garmus (published in 2022). It's about a female research chemist, Elizabeth Zott, who becomes a daytime cooking show sensation, and it was a fairly easy read which was thoroughly enjoyed by most of the group. Those who had read it before were happy to read it again and it didn't suffer from a second read.
A few members found it hard to get into, a couple found some elements irritating, one declared herself indifferent but it was only a definite thumb down for one person.
The main complaint was that the end of the book was just too neat and tidy, all threads tied off in a few paragraphs as though the author had grown tired of writing and just wanted the book over with.
In the main we found it full of humour, in some instances laugh-out-loud funny, and the characters were likeable and well written. The stand-out star character is Six-Thirty the dog, based on a real dog owned by the author. Several readers used the word ‘quirky’ to describe the book, very appropriate when a dog gets some of the best lines.
‘Lessons in Chemistry’ contains some strong messages about women, their place in society in the 1950s (mostly expected to be homemakers and caregivers), and the feminists who laid the groundwork for the equality activism of the 1960s. It certainly got us talking about different decades and the various industries our members had worked in, and whether things have changed for women in the workplace and in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in particular. The answer is probably yes...but not enough.
We don't have anyone younger than Gen X in the group and we wondered what younger readers would think of the gender-based attitudes of the ‘50s and ‘60s and the (to our eyes) discriminatory and appalling behaviour towards the main character, Elizabeth.
If you’d like to read the novel, or are in two minds about it, there’s an insightful interview with Bobbie Garmus here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/.../bonnie-garmus-interview...
We welcomed Susan as a new member this month (it was a baptism of fire as our only dissenter)
