If there is any book having a moment right now, it feels like it could be this one. I've seen it popping up frequently on my Goodreads and on Instagram as more people are interested in reading it or actually reading it. I know I first heard about this one from Annie B. Jones at The Bookshelf but have heard about it many other places lately. I logged it on my TBR on March 15th and picked it up about 6 weeks later, which is rather quick for me. Besides unreleased books (which I might know about months before they are out), it still can take me 4-6 months, AT LEAST, to get to a book.
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The book is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I knew it was historical fiction (mid-20th century), was about a slightly unconventional woman, and probably had something to do with chemistry. Completely unrelated to this book, I was just discussing high school chemistry class with my sister at Easter and we both decided that we liked it. Balancing those equations/formulas whatever it was. Chemistry was a lot of math, which I particularly like. I can't say I remember most of it but it wasn't a painful class to take.
This book starts in a home. With a little girl reading her lunch box notes from her mother. She reads them at home, after her mother has left for work, (although, now that I think about it, it seems strange her mother, Elizabeth Zott, has to leave before her daughter, Madeline is awake for school, because Elizabeth doesn't tape her tv show until late afternoon and she doesn't seem to do any practice or prep because the crew and producers mostly seem surprised by what comes out of her mouth). Anyways, Madeline is reading her mother's lunch box note at home because Madeline is in kindergarten, a grade at which many kids do not read or at least not well, and Madeline doesn't want to appear any more strange to her classmates by being able to read these notes.
Then the story jumps back. Back to when Elizabeth was a chemist or studying chemistry or doing something more directly chemistry related than as it relates to cooking. Before Madeline. It's the 1950s and not a great time to be a woman studying something like chemistry in college. Then, because of the ridiculousness of some men at the time (in scenes that may make your blood boil, although, it must be said, Elizabeth is rather good at defending herself against misogynist men, not the first time it happens in the book. It's just really a travesty that she needed to do that defending.).
The actions of some men in this book lead her to abandon her chemistry education and, instead, get a job at a science place doing science things. She's much smarter than most, if not all, the men there but she keeps getting pushed to rather menial or simple tasks, like getting coffee and paperwork. She knows she can do more. After a chance encounter (she was taking some of his extra beakers, something that was not appreciated), Elizabeth falls into a relationship with Calvin Evans. A very smart but lonely fellow scientist. Their romance is a central part of the book and a huge driver of the story line, in many way.
Things happen, time pasts. Elizabeth has lost Calvin. Lost her job. Lost any income. Gained a daughter. Gained a dog. Gained a nosy but very helpful and well meaning neighbor. Her daughter is also a genius, reading complex books before she starts kindergarten at age 4 (Elizabeth lied to say she was 5.) And through a series of events, Elizabeth ends up on tv. Teaching women (or people but a cooking show in the 1950s was STRONGLY aimed at women) how to cook. With a lot of chemistry.
Elizabeth has lived her whole life on her terms. She had a messy family situation, didn't get to finish her degree, had men pushing against her her whole life. She lost the man she loves and gained a child she never planned to have. Got involved in a sport she never would have picked if not for love (there is quite a bit of rowing in here) She had to learn to let people in but also still be, completely and truly, herself. There are mysteries to be solved about Calvin's childhood and lab funding.
When I'm writing this out I'm realizing how many things this book had going on, yet, it was never overwhelming, never confusing. Elizabeth was such her own person, one of the most fully formed protagonists I've read in awhile. I can't say I know anyone like her but I felt like I knew her.
This is a slightly quirky book, kinda in the vein of The Maid or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine but not completely. I didn't agree with all the choices Elizabeth made but I really respected her journey and how she stuck with doing things her way. I was always excited to pick this up, even, more than once, at 5:45am (this is crazy, I know). I really enjoyed my time with Elizabeth in the lab and tv studio and at home. I don't feel like I know any more about chemistry than I did before I read this book but that wasn't the point anyways. It was a delightful and fun reading experience.
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