Fierce Females Flourish! discussion
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Lessons in Chemistry
Have you read Lessons in Chemistry?
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I have and I loved it!! Some people act like things like this didn't happen. I suppose maybe they like the patriarchy. This book made me laugh, made me cry, and made me angry.
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Carol wrote: "I just finished Lessons in Chemistry. Have you read this? What a fierce female! Here's my review (spoiler alert) - tell me what you thought!Bonnie Garmus has concocted a delightful story. Her bac..."
I read it for my reading group and really enjoyed the story. The story captures what industry used to be like for women. Plus, there was a great dog :)
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Bonnie Garmus has concocted a delightful ..."
Nancy, the dog was a star! I just heard Lessons in Chemistry will be made into a movie. I wonder who'll they'll cast at the fierce female lead?! Any guesses or hopes?
Bonnie Garmus has concocted a delightful story. Her background as a copywriter and creative director have been put to great use to compile the ingredients of this novel, which includes:
- Elizabeth Zott, an intelligent, strong-minded chemist who faces sexism and worse in the 1960's, from PhD advisors, Hastings' lab director DeNatti who steals her research, and even misunderstanding from other women like HR coworker Frask
- Calvin, a fellow chemist and soulmate whose sad start as an orphan in a boys' home is even more unjust because (spoiler alert) the greedy bishop in charge lied when the boy's father came to find him, keeping him from reuniting with his biological family
- Six-Thirty, the dog who comprehends 650+ words and looks after Elizabeth and her daughter Madeleine
The novel weaves back-and-forth in time, starting with Madeleine's delicious lunch being eaten by fellow student Amanda, which leads to Elizabeth confronting the child's single-father Walter. He's a TV producer smitten by her matter-of-factness and attractiveness. Desperate to fill an afternoon slot vacated by a clown show, he crafts a cooking show for her.
Garmus makes the character motivations clear at every step of the way. Zott needs money to feed her daughter and takes the job, but won't comply with the expectations of the era, instead using her growing fame to instill women with a sense of confidence. The book goes back to fill in her early years and the love story with Calvin before returning to the present day.
Multiple characters grow and/or live up to higher levels of morality, including Frask who goes from the office gossip to the person who gives Calvin's research to Elizabeth; rower leaders who accept Elizabeth as the first woman in their erg; journalists who don't take advantage of Elizabeth's candor and instead characterize her rightly as the most intelligent woman; and her producer Walter who emerges from under the thumb of the station manager. The scenes on Zott's cooking show and Six-Thirty's heroism are entertaining, comical, and yet believable.
The storyline leverages the worlds of chemical research (abiogenesis), rowing, cooking, and human frailties that include greed, insecurity, ego, intolerance and more. Together, she uses the story's tragedies to make powerful points about respect for science, respect for animals, and the thread of the whole novel: respect for women.