Lessons in Chemistry: A GMA Book Club Pick

I really enjoyed this book. Even though parts made me very sad, I was happy with the ending! I was surprised how different the Apple series was from the book. The book is better!!

I couldn't put this down! Loved the characters, and although a little predictable I enjoyed the story quite a bit.

This was such a good read! I loved the characters, not what I was expecting when people said it had a talking dog but none the less loved him. The feelings where very real during this book, though no tears, and I lived the growth of the characters. The relationships we learned about at the end (more than one of them) made me very happy. Will be rereading for sure. Also the interview included at the end of the audiobook was a nice addition.

Great book - very fast read. So good I read it twice. Much better than the Apple series.

This novel has so many twists subplots and concurrent plots it’s never dull. Full of funny humor but a great storyline too. 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

Elizabeth is a hero and role model for all women. It was a real pleasure getting to know herand the other characters. The story just keeps going on with interesting twists and turns including a chuckle here and there and exclamations of "So true!" Excellent story

I enjoyed the authenticity of the setting. I was a biology major in college and spent many hours in the lab. In addition, I loved Six thirty and how Elizabeth kept working on his vocabulary.I think this would be a good read for intelligent young girls and women. It would encourage them to continue to set goals and strive to be all they can be. I have a nineteen year old granddaughter doing just that!

I just loved this book. It me laugh, cry and think. It's commentary on social issues was right on. Elizabeth was a fantastic character.

What an imaginative, beautifully written and profound tale! I’m at a loss for words to describe the characters, plot and themes, except to say that they add up to one of the best modern novels I’ve ever read.

I never write reviews, but this is one of the best books that I’ve ever read. The first half of the book was difficult to get through. I almost gave up on it several times. The second half is when it comes to life. This woman had to fight for her rights living in the 60s. We are still fighting for our rights in the year 2025. I was going through a very difficult situation with the president of my HOA condominium. Elizabeth Zott gave me the strength to go on and not let this get me down. This is a wonderful book. I am in tears writing this review. If you can get through the first half you will be greatly rewarded.Update: Apple TV had a series based on this book. There were eight episodes. You can get a free month subscription of Apple TV and watch it.

I had decided to read it in order to check off one of the things I needed to complete the Kindle Quarterly Challenge. But to my surprise it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year! Not only is it well written, it is funny and endearing, and frustratingly true regarding how women are treated not just in the 50s and 60s but even in today’s workplace. The fight for recognition and respect for a woman’s place in any career field is on-going. It is a constant battle, but as we women know, there is no “give up” when it comes to our struggle and the struggle for our daughters and granddaughters. Thank you Bonnie Garmus, for giving us these wonderful lessons in Chemistry!

I absolutely loved this book so t had me hooked from the beginning. I loved how she changed to do abs be better for her daughter even when she thought it was practical. I loved to see a strong independent woman from this time period.

Funny, intelligent, deeply moving and Inspired new confidence in me (a former chemist:). And she’s right about the protein and lipids making better brownies.

Great twists and turns! Love the book, could not put it down! Great characters and a real thinker ! Buy it now!

I had to buy this book twice because the first book I got was not what was advertised. The second book was exactly what I was looking for. Shipping was fast so that was really nice :)

Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant Chemist in the late 50’s/early 60’s when a woman’s “place” was in the kitchen. Her innovative ideas and contributions are continually dismissed by the pompous men in her field. She eventually agrees to host a cooking show in order to financially support her daughter and herself. After all, cooking is chemistry.Elizabeth is ferociously strong and resilient. Her independence and determination make her a wonderful role model for young women. Garmus paints a humorous, colorful story of the oppression women dealt with and how tenacity and perseverance can overcome most challenges.I was invested in Elizabeth’s character from the beginning, but when she rescued Six Thirty, I was done for. Her conversations with this amazing canine are some of the best moments in the story. I love the interactions between Elizabeth, Six Thirty and her daughter, Mads. I rated this 4.5, simply because it felt rushed at the end. However, it was an excellent read that I can highly recommend.

It is an enjoyable read if you suspend disbelief about all the amazing things that just happen to rescue the protagonist. There are some anachronisms and the time line is a little wonky but as I said, it’s enjoyable. It does discuss the problems of women not being taken seriously and sexual abuse and exploitation. In the end, the good people get good things and live happily ever after and the bad people end up fired or have a heart attack.

I came to this book by serendipity. I watch Jeopardy regularly, and one of the contestants said his wife had just written a novel, that had become a TV series. So I found it, watched it and was completely mesmerized, so I tried the novel.The novel goes farther than the TV series, although most of the main characters appear.Bonnie Garmus writes an amazing story, set in the California of the 1950s and early sixties, and the main character, a young woman named Elizabeth Zott is a chemist with a brilliant mind who can’t get people to take her seriously. She’s a prototype of a women’s liberationist without the usual “ideology “ , just basing her approach on common sense and human decency.The book is very well written, with an almost mythical plot which makes fascinating comments on chemistry and scientific research, on tragedy and death, on toxic sexuality, on religion in general and specifically the abuses of the Catholic Church, on daytime television , on single mothers trying to raise a child and pursue a demanding career, on the natural intelligence of dogs and on early morning rowing.Bonnie Garmus manages to weave all these themes skillfully together, peppering her plot with memorable characters, including Elizabeth’s young daughter, Mad, whose inquisitive nature and persistence manages to propel the story to its conclusion.A very powerful novel.

I picked this book up and set it down at least a dozen times. I thought it just started too slow and the main character wasn't likeable at all. But everyone was adamant it was worth it, so I finally picked it up and stuck it out. This has only happened one other time with "Where the Crawdad Sings" that I picked up a book I thought I would DNF, and ended up LOVING it.As I stated, it starts off slow and dull. The main character, Elizabeth, comes across as sort of 'Autistic' or at least on the spectrum, but not in any interesting ways other than she's super smart. As a matter of fact, she is loaded with double doses of all of the frustrating parts of being on the spectrum (from a modern standpoint). Disclaimer: dealing with an Autistic or on-the-spectrum person in real life is much easier than dealing with a fictional character on the spectrum, so this is in no way a judgment of those on the spectrum, considering I'm neurospicy (ADHD) myself. Since this is set in the 1960's, the possibility that she is on the spectrum is not even mentioned, so we don't know for sure (but we'll come back to this). I can tell you she is virtually humorless, doesn't grasp social mores of the time, and other people have to explain things to her in painstaking detail to the point I ended up just wanting to strangle her. I went through the entire book practically yelling at her!Then, it happened. I finally realized Elizabeth isn't on the spectrum. Instead, she is so resolute in her convictions and such a staunch advocate for her own personhood, opinions, and VOICE, especially in 1960, that even today, one could think that it's some neurological flaw/difference and isn't that a sad commentary on where I am as a woman. I was humbled. In fact, it hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks, and I had to take a minute to collect myself.Sure, it's a cool story, and it gets much better as you stick with it, but the book challenged how I view myself and place in the world and there haven't been many that could do that. Five full stars. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

I never write reviews, even though I should, but I had to write this one. It started a while back, when my husband checked the audiobook out of the library. He raved over it. He kept telling me how much Elizabeth reminded him of me. Coincidentally, I have a degree in chemistry, I row on a Concept2 rower (the modern version of the "erg" mentioned in the book), and my middle name is Elizabeth. Go figure. Every time he's insisted that I read a book, it's turned out well, so I got on the waiting list for the ebook.We watched the series, and I enjoyed it, but my husband told me that the book was so much better. Aren't they usually? Finally, on New Year's Eve, I got the notice that it was available and started to read. I just finished, and it moved me so profoundly that I had to review it. I laughed, I cried, but most of all, I identified with Elizabeth, and with Mad, who reminds me of myself as a child. I adore Six Thirty, who may be the best character I've ever read. Have I mentioned I also love dogs? As I write this, our 11 year old Black Mouthed Cur, Probie, is lying near my feet, waiting for his dinner.Even though I got a bachelor's degree with a double major in chemistry and biology, I didn't really use it, except for the fact, as Elizabeth says, chemistry is life. Learning chemistry molded my mind. One of my best mind molding professors was Dr. Magdalena Wojciechowska, from then communist Poland. I remember getting a perfect score on a literature exam and having the professor ask if I was an English major. I told him that I was a chemistry major, and he said that he loved chemistry majors. They actually read the question and answered it, even if the answer was short. He said that English majors pick the first word they recognize and write everything they know about it.I didn't use my chemistry degree as intended, but I went on to be a licensed reactor operator, then a licensed senior reactor operator at a nuclear plant, which is still a man's world to this day. I stood on the shoulders of the people like Elizabeth Zott. Reading this book reminded my of how far we've come, even if there's still a long way to go (and we seem to be going backwards at the moment). I absolutely loved this book. I borrowed it from the library, but I may have to buy a copy, just to keep it close, reread it, and share a bunch of quotes with my friends.

BONNIE GARMUS JOINS THE RANKS OF GREAT AMERICAN SATIRISTS WITH HER OWN COMBINATION OF LITERARY ELEMENTS. Alrighty, the midnight critic has just completed the breakthrough novel, “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus and I’m feeling most gratified. A few decades ago, there was a spate of great novels that have achieved greatness for the combinations of both their wit as well as the depth of their drama. It’s tricky and not very many writers can do it. I’m referring to books like, “Catch- 22”, “The World According to Garp”, “Bonfire of the Vanities”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, and my personal favorite, “A Confederacy of Dunces”. “Lessons in Chemistry” is a part of that group, now. You know that I’m loathe to discuss the plotline too much because I don’t want to ruin anyone’s reading experience but the main character, Elizabeth Zott, is a chemist who for terrible reasons has been shoved towards the opportunity to host a cooking show on a local tv station called “Dinner at Six” back in the late-1950’s. Elizabeth uses this unwanted opportunity to teach women far and wide all about chemistry and more importantly all about the importance of manifesting their own potential for greatness. In the hands of someone less talented, this premise would have come off as hackneyed and preachy. The message would have rung false and worst of all, the whole presentation would have been intolerably boring. Thankfully, Bonnie Garmus is a brilliant author who makes her main character authentic and the supporting characters, good and bad, sound like people that could be real despite their quirky characteristics. “Lessons in Chemistry” lives up to the hype and it has already been turned into a limited-run series on Apple-Plus starring Brie Larson and it has an 8.2 rating on IMDB. Who knows, there might be a sequel in the offing. One can only hope and wonder. This was an enjoyable read even though there are scenes that are hardcore, and they were tough for me to get through. But even that is testament to Bonnie’s talent/skill because if those scenes weren’t written well, I wouldn’t care what happens to the main character. I definitely cared about what happened to Elizabeth Zott and I was rooting for her. This book is just the beginning for Bonnie Garmus. I hope there is much, much more to come. G.G. MacLeod- Psychodramatist