Lessons in Chemistry

by Bonnie Garmus

If relationships are a puzzle, then theirs was solved from the get-go—as if someone shook out the box and watched from above as each separate piece landed exactly right, slipping one into the other, fully interlocked, into a picture that made perfect sense. They made other couples sick.

But lots of people don’t get to choose how they get to live. Like slaves.” “Well,” the reverend said, chagrined by her simple wisdom. “That’s true, too.”

But even as a slave, you choose how to react to your situation -- just as, while we choose how we live our lives, we don't choose our genes, where we're born, or how our parents raise us, all of which influence our possibilities. Any decent minister (or adult) could come up with that answer, although I understand that the point of this book is that Elizabeth and Madeline are much, much smarter than anybody else, and certainly than any man. (Calvin aside.)

“Well, Mad,” he said carefully, thinking “Mad” must be French for something.

Which of course anyone would think of before they assume it's a nickname for Madeline or Madison or Madonna. Good god, this book is annoying.

the invisible hand is libertarian garbage.”

This seems anachronistic -- I don't think libertarianism was called that in 1960. (I know, if I start annotating anachronisms in this book I will never stop. Also it's a book with a talking dog, so possibly realism is not the main goal.)

“Despite the fact that those lights alone would sear a steak in thirty seconds, she never breaks a sweat. How is that possible?” “It is unusual,” Rosa agreed.

Elizabeth Zott: The woman so perfect, she doesn't even break a sweat under studio lights.

sodium chloride—you’ve

She doesn't mean sodium chloride, she means salt. Which has other things added (iodine, in particular), as well as trace minerals. Nobody walks around calling table salt sodium chloride like the two are interchangable.

Citric acid?

Again, she'd say lemon juice. Which doesn't go in pot pie filling -- it would curdle.

“Feed enough of it to your loved ones and they’ll eventually die off, saving you tons of time since you won’t have to feed them anymore.”

Ah yes, Campbell's soup, one of the great killers of the human race. Again, this seems anachronistic in terms of how people thought about canned foods in that era. Not to mention sounding like something Gwyneth Paltrow would come up with.

piperine.

Black pepper. Which, again, is not the same thing as piperine. "Intelligence is knowing tomatoes are a fruit. Wisdom is knowing they don't go in fruit salad."

“Sorry, Donatti,” she said, handing him a pen. “You’re just not smart enough.”

As much as I've bitched about this book, this is a good moment.