Loved Elizabeth Zott! Once I settled in to the quirkiness of the book, I was totally in. It did take me a bit, but I really enjoyed the story and came to love all of the characters. Would definitely recommend.

Before I review this book, I want to say I think the blurbs and cover are misleading - "laugh out loud funny" was definitely not my experience and it is not campy the way it looks. First of all the first few chapters should come with content warnings for violent rape, suicide, and death of a partner/grief, well and the entire novel is drenched in sexism because of the subject matter and times.

Other than some strange decisions in marketing, the story is interesting enough, about a lady chemist who also becomes a rower and a single mother, then goes on to surprising tangential career. So many books about scientists in recent years!

“‘Boys, set the table,’ Elizabeth commanded. ‘Your mother needs a moment to herself.’”

This book is 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 right now so I won’t bore you with yet another synopsis. Just know that this book is exceptional. It is amazing. It is everything I love in a story and in a protagonist. Elizabeth Zott is the strongest and most unapologetic of genius women in a time when women had no place but inside the home. She is not confrontational or antagonizing. She’s just unapologetically herself, a strong and incredibly intelligent scientist who just 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 to be a woman.

“‘Sometimes I think,’ she said slowly, ‘that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn’t make it past noon.’”

I use page flags or book darts as I read and this book was in the top five for sheer amount of passages noted. It is just so compulsively quotable! Sometimes I am very pleasantly surprised when a book is hyped up and it more than lives up to the hype. Lessons in Chemistry is that book.

“Too many brilliant minds are kept from scientific research thanks to ignorant biases like gender and race. It infuriates me and it should infuriate you. Science has big problems to solve: famine, disease, extinction. And those who purposefully close the door to others using self-serving, outdated cultural notions are not only dishonest, they’re knowingly lazy.” Here here 👏🏻.

Thank you to Netgalley, Doubleday Books, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Easily the best book I've read in 2022 thus far. The entire time reading this, I was torn between wishing I could read faster (because the story and characters are so delightful) and much, much slower (because I was so sad that I would one day finish this book).

While I'm probably not quite as excited as many others about this book, overall I really liked it and would give it a solid 4 stars. I really enjoyed Elizabeth Zott. She was a character unlike any other, that's for sure! I enjoyed her whole family - Calvin, Mad, and their dog, Six-Thirty.
I think this book shared a lot of important messages and showed us a main character who went against the grain. There are plenty of things that still haven't changed in terms of the way women are viewed and treated compared to men, though this book is a good reminder of how much worse it was in the 1960s.
This book had some surprising and shocking elements to it, and it also made me feel a range of emotions: from laughter to sadness to frustration and anger (not frustration with the book, but rather with what Elizabeth experienced).
I will say that some aspects of the story will require a suspension of disbelief, so if you need your books to be 100% realistic and believable, there will definitely be some things in this book that frustrate you.
I did find some parts of the book to be a little slow-moving, and there were times when I wasn't eager to sit down and read it. But as I continued to read, I really grew to love several of the characters, and this is definitely a book I'll be recommending to others.
Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the e-galley of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love, love, love this book; it includes feminism, humor, and will tug at your heartstrings. I read everything 1960s and this has become a fast favorite. I fell in love with the cast of characters. We need more protagonists like Elizabeth Zott! She has inspired me to face challenges head on and be open to new possibilities.

I look forward to more by Bonnie Garmus! Don’t let this one pass you by. Start reading - right now!

Elizabeth Zott is teaching women chemistry through a TV cooking show.

It's the 1960s and prevented from doing what she really wants to do - be a chemist - due to her gender, Zott ends up cast as a TV personality. But she's not just showing average housewives how to cook dinner; she's empowering them.

That's really more the second half of Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry. The first half of the book leads you up to Zott's cooking show, detailing her attempt at getting a PhD (and her professor's attempt at raping her), her romance with a fellow male chemist (the only male who actually listened to her), the competition among working women (to find a husband and get a promotion), and her need to make her own money as a single mother.

Much of the book also has to do with Zott's boyfriend, Calvin Evans, a fellow scientist and rower. His background is just as important, especially as everything comes full circle at the end of the novel.

This book was so clever and quirky and amusing and entertaining. I loved how unapologetic Zott was, standing up for herself and her daughter, and not being afraid to go up against societal norms. I also loved how all the characters, even ones you might think are minor, came together. This reminded me of a Fredrik Backman novel only without tears.

Lessons in Chemistry is published by Doubleday and is available to purchase now. I received a free e-ARC.

I found myself loving this novel. It has quirky, human characters, a precocious child, and an amazingly astute dog - and an overall essence of perseverance with a dash of luck interwoven throughout. I loved the two main characters - they are both super intelligent but socially awkward - they are on the spectrum - way before there even was a spectrum and written with freshness and expertise. Garmus masterfully captured the unjust way woman have been, and are still, treated in the business/science world but delivers it with the right amount of humor so that it doesn't confront one as being preachy - just matter of fact. There are many laugh out loud moments, as well as, sadness and loss. It is a parody of sorts. But major Fun - A Fun Entertaining Read! A great debut novel! I will definitely be following this author!

Garmus’ debut novel positively sparkles. The writing is deft and light-handed, despite tackling some serious topics. Once in a while a character comes along that is you know you’ll remember forever. Elizabeth Zott joins the ranks of Eleanor Oliphant and Cyril Avery, permanently imprinted on my Literary Heart. She is a feminist and pioneer, a reluctant trailblazer but she is not without humor and heart. I just loved everything about this book. All the characters were charming and the plot is propulsive. I couldn’t read it fast enough. It’s gotten a lot of buzz and I hear there’s already a series in the works starring Brie Larson. Loved it!

I'm calling it: Best book I've read in 2022 so far.

Refreshingly original from start to finish, this book tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, a true original! A brilliant chemist trying to break the glass ceiling in the 1950s, she succeeds based on her own determination to be more than society believes her to be and her quirky personality that’s steeped in a love of science and precision. When she inadvertently becomes the beloved star of a TV cooking show, her ability to show women to be the mulifaceted, smart, capable, amazing humans they are starts to upset the men in a society that deems women less-than and not worthy of the adoration she's getting. She's upsetting the status quo and, as usual when that occurs, good things happen. Elizabeth does this all while staying true to herself and her beliefs.

Funny, sharp, inventive, and true, this book is hard to categorize. It makes some important statements about the sexism and misogyny of the 1950s (some of which carries through to today), religious creation versus evolution, and the power/endurance of love. It also is hilarious at points, especially when the narrative is told from the dog's POV. But through it all, Elizabeth Zott remains a distinct, expertly rendered character who will make you laugh, smile, cry, and cheer. She's amazing and I'm so glad I got to spend some time in her amazing world.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #DoubleDayBooks for the early review of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A book that will make you laugh and cry and frustrate you , we’ll just sign me up! Not only is it wonderfully written , it’s witty and fun. A fantastic debut with great characters . A definite 2022 favorite

An okay book that just didn't really hook me. I think it captured the struggles of a woman in the field at that time but I just couldn't connect with the character maybe because I have never been a career woman or what I don't know I felt like the pacing was off not diving deep enough but also not moving swift enough. I wanted to like it and I kept at it but it just stalled out for me.

Wow! There are very few literary characters that leave a lasting impact like Elizabeth Zott will leave on each and every reader that is smart enough to pick up Lessons in Chemistry. A book set in the 1960s you will be transported to a time where your history books will leave you unprepared for the woman that is Elizabeth Zott. Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman of the 60s and in fact she will be the first to tell you there is no such thing as an average woman.

As a chemist, Elizabeth Zott, finds herself amid an all-male team at Hastings Research Institute and ultimately catches the eye of Calvin Evans, a brilliant and gruff Nobel Prize-nominee and chemistry between them simmers and eventually fall in love. Years later though Elizabeth Zott finds herself in the most unprecedented position - a single mother and hosting a cooking show. Pushing boundaries and social constructs of what the 'woman's role' truly is Elizabeth Zott makes waves and gathers a following with her unique approach to hosting her cooking show - using chemistry with a pinch of bold and fearless thoughts.

This book and it's cast of characters is funny as it is heartwarming. The reader will fall in love with Elizabeth Zott and you will feel deeply for all the characters you come across in this story. This is a masterpiece of a debut.

⚛️ I love female STEM rep in books. This book nails it for the time period regarding how women in STEM were likely treated by male colleagues. Thankfully, due to strong, perservering women like our fictional Miss Zott, women do not have to deal with that nonsense anymore (at least in most cases).

⚛️ I’m an engineer and there were only two courses in college I absolutely hated - chemistry and differential equations! If I’d have had Miss Zott as a chemistry teacher I would have loved the class! I appreciate when people, fictional or otherwise, are able to make a complex science relatable and understandable.

⚛️ I’ve always said that cooking was a science and this book proves that!

⚛️ I did feel like Christianity was misrepresented a bit in the book… or maybe oversimplified is a better word. I do get frustrated when stories bash one ideology in support of another.

⚛️ Every single character in this book was amazing! Every one. I was sad when the book ended because I felt like I was losing some friends.

⚛️ Six-Thirty!! Best dog name ever! The dog has a backstory and a perspective in this book. At first it felt corny, but it quickly became endearing.

⚛️ This is a phenomenal debut book! It’s a love story, a fight for equal opportunity, and a family drama. You’ll enjoy it and maybe even learn a little chemistry along the way.

Thank you @NetGalley and @DoubleDayBooks for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I loved this refreshing book featuring a strong female character who really was the shining star of the story, despite going through a lot of trouble before finally finding success in life for herself. At times the story made me gasp with shock and at other times I was crying with grief for what Elizabeth Zott went through in life. For a debut novel to be this awesome, I am very eager to see what the author writes next. I absolutely loved this book. Thank you so much for the review copy!

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

I had so much fun reading this book I forgot it was historical fiction.

In this book, we meet Elizabeth Zott, a zingy name for a zany scientist- turned cooking tv show host. She is refreshing and whip-smart and a lot of fun to read.

She reminded me of the character from Masters of Sex but just replace any sexual content with cooking content and you’ve got this book.

If you think a teaspoon of sugar helps the medicine go down then you’ll love this gulp of realism mixed in with lines that you’ll be smiling at from behind your headphones.

I listened to this one in audiobook format and recommend you check it out.

Out now!

Thanks to Doubleday Books/ Penguin Random House Audio and Netgalley for the advanced copies!

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"During one of the advertising breaks he turned to the woman next to him.
'If you don't mind me asking...what is it that you like about the show?'
'Being taken seriously.'
'Not the the recipes?'
She looked back in incredulously.
'Sometimes I think,' she said slowly, 'that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn't make it past noon.' The woman on the other side of him tapped his knee.
'Prepare for a revolt.'"

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book - perhaps a more science-y Where'd You Go Bernadette, maybe a little feminist zing thrown in here and there - but what I got blew me away.

The story is heart-wrenching, yet hopeful; infuriating, yet hilarious; romantic, empowering, thought-provoking, and altogether unforgettable. The cast of characters is wonderful, Elizabeth Zott is the hero we all need, and if someone were to create a show like Supper at Six, I would watch it religiously.

A top book of the year for me, for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley, Doubleday, and the author for the eARC in exchange for my review.

Picked this up from a recommendation on my book review page. I have to admit that I was skeptical about how it was all going to come together at the end but it totally did!! Elizabeth Zott is reminiscent of Eleanor Opliphant and Molly Gray, both of whom I loved.

I am so surprised by how much I loved this book! I hated the subject of chemistry growing up, which makes me the perfect reader for this story of such incredible triumph in a time when it was so tough for women to get ahead in not just education, but so many other areas of society. I cannot believe how much ground the author was able to cover here, yet she tied it so nicely together (as much as life can be in all its suffering). Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for provider me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the women's movement. I am not a feminist but I thoroughly loved this book. This book will stick with me.