‘Courage is the root of change – and change is what we’re chemically designed to do’ Elizabeth Zott
Let’s focus less on the fact that I’ve failed to be consistent on this book-reviewing thing and more on the fact that I’m back yet again (after three months) with another great review, yay!
Hi, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy St Patrick’s Day, and Happy Easter… is there another holiday I’ve missed? Happy all of them please… 2024 started in a rush and all of a sudden it’s already April???? How sway? HOW? This year is completely flying and as much as I love Christmas, I’m not ready for it to be Christmas time all over again. Here’s to hoping time slows down a bit in Q2.
All that aside – 2024 also started with quite a slow reading slump because I was really struggling with a book that I shall not name here… It took me way too long to finish reading it but I’m glad I pushed through, I hate starting a book and not completing it. Once I was done with it I said I’d take a big break from reading for a while but my friend has been begging me to read the book I’m about to review for months so I didn’t get a break at all. I’m not bummed about that though because diving straight into this book after the one I struggled through was a breath of fresh air!
Let’s talk about Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.
If I saw this book in a bookstore I don’t think I’d have picked it up voluntarily. The title alone would have put me off despite it being a piece of fiction. I’m probably carrying trauma from Chemistry lessons in high school and refuse to go back there ever again. Thankfully, I did NOT see it and pass it in a bookstore, my friend saw it at a Barnes & Noble and did NOT pass it. She picked it up, bought it, read it and has spent the rest of 2023 into 2024 convincing everyone she knows to read it which brings us here… to me writing this review to also convince all of you to get this book and read it.
The book centres around Elizabeth Zott, a super-intelligent woman with perfect 21st-century politics who is also stunningly beautiful but she doesn’t care for her looks and is a self-taught chemist in the 1950s. She’s working on abiogenesis, a scientific theory that may or may not disprove religion, but because it’s the 1950s, she’s forced out of her doctoral programme and undervalued at work. She strikes up a relationship with a powerful chemist (Calvin Evans) who loves her, but he soon dies in an accident (spoiler alert) leaving her unwed, pregnant and fired. She ends up doing freelance work so the men at her old workplace can actually understand their results. Undeterred, she builds a home lab (because she actually can) and ends up getting hired into a local cooking programme, where she uses science to teach American housewives how to cook wholesome meals while teaching them valuable life lessons that make them feel seen.
So that’s a small summary of the book storyline. Bonnie Garmus did the damn thing with this book you guys, the writing in particular?? Excellent! The writing is so witty and brilliant. There’s a zing to it that makes it feel zippy and wholly original. Look at this one description from one of the earlier chapters that I just had to note down…
‘She was tall and angular, with hair the colour of burnt buttered toast pulled back and secured with a pencil’ …
Have you ever described anything as having the colour of burnt buttered toast? I read that and immediately envisioned the buttered toast and immediately saw the colour and immediately wanted buttered toast at that very second. Garmus can clearly also be an influencer, she needs to tap into that because her captions would be terrific with this style of writing.
I know a book is good when I can’t put it down and when I choose to read instead of watching another episode of Love & Hip Hop ATL. I couldn’t stop laughing and I couldn’t put it down. Usually, I can’t wait to reach the end of a book so I can check it off my long To Be Read list but I wanted this to go on and on and on – I wanted to know what life is like for Mad (Zott’s daughter) when she grew up, I wanted to know if Zott ever found love again. I enjoyed it so much I did not want it to end but alas I really devoured it and completed it way before my usual 4 week timeline.
Lessons in Chemistry was a delight of a book, from the very first moment to the last. It possesses all the makings of a really great story. It made me laugh, feel, think, and wonder. It filled me with joy and buoyed my spirits. It gave me everything I wanted and everything I didn’t even know to ask for. I really think it may be my best book of 2024 so far and we’re just starting the 2nd quarter of the year!
I know there’s a TV series about it now on Apple TV, and I’m excited to dig into that but I have a feeling it really won’t be as great as the book (they really never are), there’s a magic in writing a story that can’t ever fully be brought to life in a TV show or film and it’s okay. At least it gives us something to base our imagination off of.
Get this book fellow readers, read it and enjoy it as much as I did. Share with me here or on my Instagram what you think about it aka why it’s possibly the best book you’ve read yet.
Until next time, happy reading!
Rating: 10/10
Writers Haven 