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She Moved From the Chem Lab to the Kitchen, but Not by Choice

In Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel, “Lessons in Chemistry,” a woman who has been banished to the home front turns it into a staging ground for a revolution.

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By Elisabeth Egan

Welcome to Group Text, a monthly column for readers and book clubs about the novels, memoirs and story collections that make you want to talk, ask questions and dwell in another world for a little bit longer.

Meet Elizabeth Zott: scientist by training, cooking show host by default. One meal at a time, she galvanizes her audience to question the lives they’ve been served.

Like the lunches Zott packs for her daughter, “Lessons in Chemistry” is irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat.

Here are a few words I loathe in conjunction with fiction written by women: Sassy. Feisty. Madcap. These supposedly complimentary adjectives have a way of canceling out the very qualities they’re meant to describe: Opinionated. Funny. Intelligent. This last one is not to be confused with its patronizing cousin, Clever. Don’t even get me started on Gutsy, Spunky and Frisky — the unfortunate spawn of Relatable.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday, 386 pp., $29) , a debut novel about a scientist in the 1960s who is opinionated, funny and intelligent, full stop. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Zott has been unceremoniously and brutally sidelined by male colleagues who make Don Draper look like a SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy).

How, exactly, she was cheated out of a doctorate and lost the love of her life — Calvin Evans, a kindred scientist, expert rower and the father of her daughter, Madeline — are central elements in the story, but feminism is the catalyst that makes it fizz like hydrochloric acid on limestone.

Elizabeth Zott does not have “moxie”; she has courage. She is not a “girl boss” or a “lady chemist”; she’s a groundbreaker and an expert in abiogenesis (“the theory that life rose from simplistic, non-life forms,” in case you didn’t know). Not long after Zott converts her kitchen into a lab equipped with beakers, pipettes and a centrifuge, she gets hoodwinked into hosting a staid television cooking show called “Supper at Six.” But she isn’t going to smile and read the cue cards. Zott ad-libs her way into a role that suits her, treating the creation of a stew or a casserole as a grand experiment to be undertaken with utmost seriousness. Think molecular gastronomy in an era when canned soup reigned supreme. Baked into each episode is a healthy serving of empowerment, with none of the frill we have come to associate with that term.

In addition to her serious look at the frustrations of a generation of women, Garmus adds plenty of lighthearted fun. There’s a mystery involving Calvin’s family and a look at the politics and dysfunction of the local television station. There’s Zott’s love affair with rowing and her unconventional approach to parenthood and her deep connection to her dog, Six-Thirty.

Still, beyond the entertaining subplots and witty dialogue is the hard truth that, in 1961, a smart, ambitious woman had limited options. We see how a scientist relegated to the kitchen found a way to pursue a watered-down version of her own dream. We see how two women working in the same lab had no choice but to turn on each other. We meet Zott’s friend and neighbor, Harriet, who is trapped in a miserable marriage to a man who complains that she smells.

“Lessons in Chemistry” may be described with one or all of my verboten words, and it might end up shelved in that maddeningly named section “Women’s Fiction,” which needs to go the way of the girdle. To file Elizabeth Zott among the pink razors of the book world is to miss the sharpness of Garmus’s message. “Lessons in Chemistry” will make you wonder about all the real-life women born ahead of their time — women who were sidelined, ignored and worse because they weren’t as resourceful, determined and lucky as Elizabeth Zott. She’s a reminder of how far we’ve come, but also how far we still have to go.

Discussion Questions

What do science and rowing have in common? Why do you think Garmus decided to dedicate so many pages to the sport?

Aside from her presumption that her daughter is gifted, how is Zott’s approach to parenthood 50 years ahead of its time?

Suggested Reading

“ Where’d You Go, Bernadette ,” by Maria Semple. You can’t get to know Elizabeth Zott without waxing nostalgic about Bernadette Fox, the original tortured, inscrutable, cynical yet vulnerable protagonist who couldn’t care less what you think. If you haven’t read this book by now, we definitely aren’t friends. Sorry, the movie doesn’t count; equating the two is like forfeiting a trip to Italy because you’ve eaten a can of SpaghettiOs.

“ Lab Girl ,” by Hope Jahren. Interested in reading a more hopeful — and true — account of a woman in science? Start with this memoir from a professor of geobiology who’s now at the University of Oslo. Our critic called it “a gifted teacher’s road map to the secret lives of plants — a book that, at its best, does for botany what Oliver Sacks’s essays did for neurology, what Stephen Jay Gould’s writings did for paleontology.” (Jahren also gets props for showing “the often absurd hoops that research scientists must jump through to obtain even minimal financing for their work.”)

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Eighteen books were recognized as winners or finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, in the categories of history, memoir, poetry, general nonfiction, fiction and biography, which had two winners. Here’s a full list of the winners .

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Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

clock This article was published more than  2 years ago

At age 64, debut novelist Bonnie Garmus makes the case for experience

Garmus’s novel ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ delivers an assured voice, an indelible heroine and relatable love stories

Like Laura Ingalls Wilder and Judith Krantz , Bonnie Garmus is a latecomer to the literary scene. This week she publishes her first book — the sparkling novel “ Lessons in Chemistry ” — days shy of her 65th birthday. Hurray for this! If we’re going to continually fuss over newly minted MFA wunderkinds landing two-book deals, let us also raise a glass — or, better yet, Garmus’s book — in honor of this rarer breed of first-time novelists.

With “Lessons in Chemistry,” Garmus, a venerable copywriter and creative director, delivers an assured voice, an indelible heroine and several love stories — that of a mother for her daughter, a woman for science, a dog for a child, and between a woman and man.

We need comic novels more than ever. So where are they?

At the center of the novel is Elizabeth Zott, a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention, “a woman with flawless skin and an unmistakable demeanor of someone who was not average and never would be.” (Is it any wonder that Oscar-winner Brie Larson is set to play her in an Apple TV Plus “Lessons” series that she will also executive produce?)

The novel is set in the early 1960s in the mythical Southern California town of Commons where, it appears, few people are. Being a woman in science is a hard, lonely road. Elizabeth becomes a national somebody not in the lab but as a kitchen savant on a local afternoon television show called “Supper at Six.” Her nutritious dishes are doused in chemistry with a heaping side order of female empowerment.

“When women understand chemistry," she explains to a reporter, “they understand how things work." Science offers “the real rules that govern the physical world. When women understand these basic concepts, they can begin to see the false limits that have been created for them.” It’s better living through casseroles.

A decade earlier, Elizabeth met Nobel-nominated chemist and master grudge-holder Calvin Evans at the Hastings Research Institute, where he is a star and she is not because, well, sexism. They fit because they don’t anywhere else. Garmus has packed her novel with rowing (“As any non-rower can tell you, rowers are not fun. This is because rowers only ever want to talk about rowing”), heartache, corporate malfeasance and, that most relished and rarest of real-life events, a humiliating comeuppance.

Women are over the underwire bra

Elizabeth is a feminist and modern thinker. She has little talent for ingratiating herself with other people. It is Elizabeth, not her equally eccentric and stubborn swain, who refuses to wed “because I can’t risk having my scientific contributions submerged beneath your name.” Her obstinance, becoming an unwed mother at a time when they were shunted elsewhere, creates a heap of trouble for her in a world nowhere ready for her mind, character or ambition.

There is an infectious absurdity to the book and its hero. Here’s Elizabeth discussing the hydrogen chemical bond on a show ostensibly about dinner: “I call this the ‘love at first sight’ bond because both parties are drawn to each other based solely on visual information: you like his smile, he likes your hair. But then you talk and discover he’s a closet Nazi and thinks women complain too much. Poof. Just like that the delicate bond is broken. That’s the hydrogen bond for you ladies — a chemical reminder that if things are too good to be true, they probably are.”

Then, with her knife, she takes a “Paul Bunyan swing” at an onion. “It’s chicken pot pie night,” she declares. “Let’s get started.”

Could “Lessons” have been a few instructions tauter? Certainly. Garmus knows her characters from the initial pages. There’s little need to keep informing readers how exceptional they are or how adamant Elizabeth is in pursuing her truth. Also, every dog may have its day, but that doesn’t mean he need scamper through a novel as an astute fictional character. “ Welcome to life on the outside! How was your trip? Please, come in, come in! I’ve got chalk! ” These are the musings of Elizabeth’s dog, Six-Thirty (a nod to the time he joined the family) as he welcomes baby Madeleine into his world.

Still, Garmus manages to charm. She’s created an indelible assemblage of stubborn, idiosyncratic characters. She’s given us a comic novel at precisely the moment we crave one. Perhaps, in her next effort, Garmus will provide a heroine who is more her peer, someone who would be a perfect role for, say, Emma Thompson or Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Karen Heller is national features writer for Style.

Lessons in Chemistry

By Bonnie Garmus

Doubleday. 400 pp. $29

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Awards & Accolades

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Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2022

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

by Bonnie Garmus ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2022

A more adorable plea for rationalism and gender equality would be hard to find.

Two chemists with major chemistry, a dog with a big vocabulary, and a popular cooking show are among the elements of this unusual compound.

At the dawn of the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott finds herself in an unexpected position. She's the star of a television program called Supper at Six that has taken American housewives by storm, but it's certainly not what the crass station head envisions: “ 'Meaningful?' Phil snapped. 'What are you? Amish? As for nutritious: no. You’re killing the show before it even gets started. Look, Walter, it’s easy. Tight dresses, suggestive movements...then there’s the cocktail she mixes at the end of every show.' ” Elizabeth is a chemist, recently forced to leave the lab where she was doing important research due to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Now she's reduced to explaining things like when to put the steak in the pan. "Be sure and wait until the butter foams. Foam indicates that the butter’s water content has boiled away. This is critical. Because now the steak can cook in lipids rather than absorb H2O.” If ever a woman was capable of running her own life, it's Elizabeth. But because it's the 1950s, then the '60s, men have their sweaty paws all over both her successes and failures. On the plus side, there's Calvin Evans, world-famous chemist, love of her life, and father of her child; also Walter Pine, her friend who works in television; and a journalist who at least tries to do the right thing. At the other pole is a writhing pile of sexists, liars, rapists, dopes, and arrogant assholes. This is the kind of book that has a long-buried secret at a corrupt orphanage with a mysterious benefactor as well as an extremely intelligent dog named Six-Thirty, recently retired from the military. ("Not only could he never seem to sniff out the bomb in time, but he also had to endure the praise heaped upon the smug German shepherds who always did.") Garmus' energetic debut also features an invigorating subplot about rowing.

Pub Date: April 5, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-385-54734-5

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022

LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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LONG ISLAND

by Colm Tóibín ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2024

A moving portrait of rueful middle age and the failure to connect.

An acclaimed novelist revisits the central characters of his best-known work.

At the end of Brooklyn (2009), Eilis Lacey departed Ireland for the second and final time—headed back to New York and the Italian American husband she had secretly married after first traveling there for work. In her hometown of Enniscorthy, she left behind Jim Farrell, a young man she’d fallen in love with during her visit, and the inevitable gossip about her conduct. Tóibín’s 11th novel introduces readers to Eilis 20 years later, in 1976, still married to Tony Fiorello and living in the titular suburbia with their two teenage children. But Eilis’ seemingly placid existence is disturbed when a stranger confronts her, accusing Tony of having an affair with his wife—now pregnant—and threatening to leave the baby on their doorstep. “She’d known men like this in Ireland,” Tóibín writes. “Should one of them discover that their wife had been unfaithful and was pregnant as a result, they would not have the baby in the house.” This shock sends Eilis back to Enniscorthy for a visit—or perhaps a longer stay. (Eilis’ motives are as inscrutable as ever, even to herself.) She finds the never-married Jim managing his late father’s pub; unbeknownst to Eilis (and the town), he’s become involved with her widowed friend Nancy, who struggles to maintain the family chip shop. Eilis herself appears different to her old friends: “Something had happened to her in America,” Nancy concludes. Although the novel begins with a soap-operatic confrontation—and ends with a dramatic denouement, as Eilis’ fate is determined in a plot twist worthy of Edith Wharton—the author is a master of quiet, restrained prose, calmly observing the mores and mindsets of provincial Ireland, not much changed from the 1950s.

Pub Date: May 7, 2024

ISBN: 9781476785110

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION

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edited by Colm Tóibín

Pulitzer Prize Winner

DEMON COPPERHEAD

by Barbara Kingsolver ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022

An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.

Inspired by David Copperfield , Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.

It’s not necessary to have read Dickens’ famous novel to appreciate Kingsolver’s absorbing tale, but those who have will savor the tough-minded changes she rings on his Victorian sentimentality while affirming his stinging critique of a heartless society. Our soon-to-be orphaned narrator’s mother is a substance-abusing teenage single mom who checks out via OD on his 11th birthday, and Demon’s cynical, wised-up voice is light-years removed from David Copperfield’s earnest tone. Yet readers also see the yearning for love and wells of compassion hidden beneath his self-protective exterior. Like pretty much everyone else in Lee County, Virginia, hollowed out economically by the coal and tobacco industries, he sees himself as someone with no prospects and little worth. One of Kingsolver’s major themes, hit a little too insistently, is the contempt felt by participants in the modern capitalist economy for those rooted in older ways of life. More nuanced and emotionally engaging is Demon’s fierce attachment to his home ground, a place where he is known and supported, tested to the breaking point as the opiate epidemic engulfs it. Kingsolver’s ferocious indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, angrily stated by a local girl who has become a nurse, is in the best Dickensian tradition, and Demon gives a harrowing account of his descent into addiction with his beloved Dori (as naïve as Dickens’ Dora in her own screwed-up way). Does knowledge offer a way out of this sinkhole? A committed teacher tries to enlighten Demon’s seventh grade class about how the resource-rich countryside was pillaged and abandoned, but Kingsolver doesn’t air-brush his students’ dismissal of this history or the prejudice encountered by this African American outsider and his White wife. She is an art teacher who guides Demon toward self-expression, just as his friend Tommy provokes his dawning understanding of how their world has been shaped by outside forces and what he might be able to do about it.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-06-325-1922

Page Count: 560

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022

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Why Lessons in Chemistry Is the Biggest Debut Novel of the Past Year

The same ingredient that makes some readers recoil from this bestseller is also what makes it so delicious..

Bonnie Garmus’ debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry , has become one of those books you see everywhere: in the hands of subway passengers and waiting room idlers, on the nightstands of book group members, all over the realm of TikTok known as #BookTok, as Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year for 2022, and, last but not least, on the New York Times bestseller list for 58 weeks and counting. Last November, the Times noted that it was “on track to be the best-selling debut novel of 2022,” and it seems to have only sold better since. There’s also good reason to believe that it’s only going to get bigger: In October, Apple TV+ will premiere a TV series based on the novel, starring Brie Larson. Garmus, who is 66 and wrote Lessons in Chemistry after a long career as a copywriter, is living every first-time novelist’s dream.

What’s the fuss about? Chances are: not what you think. As the Times article observed, the novel’s American cover is misleading, a cartoon image of a woman side-eyeing coquettishly over a pair of cat-eye glasses against a pink background. Paired with the title, this image shouts “ STEMinist romance novel ,” a currently booming genre. But Lessons is only incidentally about romantic love. Instead, it’s the story of Elizabeth Zott, a woman chemist and single mother confronting sexism and other tribulations as she tries to pursue her vocation in the early 1960s. She stumbles into a gig hosting a chemistry-centric cooking show on daytime TV and becomes a celebrity in syndication.

Lessons in Chemistry belongs to a genre of literary fiction that could be called the quirky tragicomedy. The novel it’s most often likened to is 2012’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette , by Maria Semple, about a daughter trying to understand her mother’s abandonment. In these books, the main character has amusingly eccentric traits or interests and suffers undeniably serious losses, but the overall tone remains light, with a touch of rueful melancholy and a whole lot of brave soldiering on. After a boom in the 2000s, this style of fiction seems to be increasingly uncommon, which explains why some of today’s readers, raised on plots that milk trauma for all it’s worth, find the novel’s tone confusing.

Elizabeth, who appears to be neurodivergent in some way, gets peeved when a male colleague suggests that she learn to “outsmart” the system, because she can’t see why systems can’t just be “smart in the first place.” She knows that she lives in “a patriarchal society founded on the idea that women were less,” but she indignantly refuses to acknowledge the dictates of that society. After Elizabeth becomes pregnant out of wedlock by one of the few decent men in the novel, and the head of her lab tries to fire her on moral grounds, she seems genuinely astonished, as if she is only just now finding out about the sexual double standard.

Much of the humor in Lessons in Chemistry comes from the collision of Elizabeth’s stubborn scientific rationalism with the unthinkingly conventional attitudes of everyone else. Elizabeth herself has no sense of humor. Her daughter, Madeline, is a similarly brainy prodigy who reads Norman Mailer in kindergarten, shocking her sourpuss teacher, and can’t understand why she gets in trouble for insisting that human beings are animals.

Garmus has an impressive ability to maintain a Campari-like balance of the bitter and the sugary. Elizabeth endures harrowing setbacks, not just a wall of sexism in her career but also a sexual assault and the deaths of loved ones. Trauma abounds in the sympathetic characters’ backstories. Elizabeth’s father, a charismatic religious charlatan, is in prison, and her gold-digger mother is out of the picture, run off to Latin America with her latest rich husband. Madeline’s father, an orphan, grew up in a grim Catholic boys’ school. Elizabeth’s helpful neighbor Harriet has a vile, abusive husband who expects her to tidy up his dirty magazine collection. All of Elizabeth’s bosses (with the exception of the meek producer who makes her a TV star) are insulting, domineering lechers. A more vulnerable woman would be utterly downtrodden by all this, but Elizabeth’s determined single-mindedness and indifference to what other people think of her—the same qualities that tend to alienate her colleagues—provide a kind of shield.

In counterbalance, there are Elizabeth’s improbably studious multitudes of fans, housewives who watch her show, Supper at Six , with notebooks in hand, jotting down her explanation of the hydrogen bond’s role in the cooking process. Elizabeth delivers on-screen pep talks about subsidized child care and encourages one live audience member to follow her dream and apply to medical school, to the cheers of the crowd. There is an absurdly anthropomorphized dog named Six-Thirty (for the time when Elizabeth found him on the street), a noble creature who understands hundreds of words and assists Elizabeth in her home lab. Even readers who don’t care for the rest of the novel—every very popular book inevitably reaps some detractors—adore Six-Thirty.

Call me a cat person, but Six-Thirty seems a calculated bid for reader sympathy designed to shore up the novel’s sentimental side against the harshness of Elizabeth’s life. There are sensitive readers who feel so overwhelmed by the cruelty of Elizabeth’s persecutors—complaints about the lack of trigger warnings are common—that they profess bafflement that anyone could call Lessons in Chemistry a comic novel.

But I’d argue that the novel’s bad guys are the real secrets to its success. Were all men in authority in the early ’60s so comprehensively horrid, a rogues’ gallery of bigots, rapists, plagiarists, and gaslighters? No, but a popular fairy tale—which Lessons in Chemistry most certainly is—needs a thoroughly hateable villain, and this book has several corkers. The dastardly, smug baddies of Garmus’ novel are the engines that drive her plot like a locomotive. You keep reading as much to see them defeated as to see Elizabeth win. To make that happen, Garmus resorts to a final reveal that is pure Dickens—the furthest thing from the collective action that actually made scientific careers possible for women like Elizabeth. Then again, as every Lessons in Chemistry critic ought to bear in mind, too much reality does not a bestseller make.

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In 'Lessons in Chemistry,' a chemist is the star of ... a cooking show?

Bonnie Garmus' new novel Lessons In Chemistry has been getting a lot of buzz. Elizabeth Zott is a talented chemist but because it's the 1960s she faces sexism in her quest to work as a scientist. So instead she has a cooking show that is wildly popular. Garmus told NPR's Scott Simon that the character of Elizabeth lived in her head for many years before she started writing this novel.

Author Interviews

In new novel, elizabeth zott is a chemist with a cooking show, thanks to gender roles.

The Quick and the Read

Book reviews, literary chat and more

Book Review: ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ by Bonnie Garmus

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 so I was delighted to be granted a review copy – thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The story is about a highly gifted Chemist, Elizabeth Zott, who is carrying out important research at the Hastings Research Institute – even though her efforts are often belittled and her work stolen by the men around her. After all, it’s the early 1960s and women can’t expect sexual equality – except Elizabeth Zott absolutely does. Her uncompromising stance gets her into trouble but also attracts the attention of older, Nobel-prize-nominated Calvin Evans. An unconventional relationship ensues – one that leaves Elizabeth with a dog, a daughter, and a hit TV cooking show. Things don’t work out as planned at all, but Elizabeth has the strength to work with whatever is thrown at her.

This book has received a lot of hype for its humour, feminist messages and strong female lead – and I can absolutely see that the plaudits are well deserved.

Elizabeth Zott is a fabulously strong and resilient central figure. She cannot understand why women are treated as second class citizens in 1960s America and seeks to correct the balance. She isn’t preaching feminism – she is living it. With each setback thrown at her, she picks herself up and finds a way to thrive – for example, building her own chemistry lab when she is at home with the baby. Even when horrendous things happen to her – and she isn’t immune from sexual predators, loss and prejudice – she faces it with fortitude and resilience. This makes her a formidable opponent for anyone trying to place limitations on her – and I loved the various ways that she dealt with them!

Although the book does have some tragic elements and is genuinely shocking in terms of the sexual politics, it is also packed with humour. Elizabeth Zott is, on the one hand, hugely intelligent and astute, but the humour lies in her contrastingly slightly naive and uncompromising views – she cannot understand why she has to conform to societal expectations and often leaves those who try to stop her floundering in her wake. There’s also delightful humour in the shape of Six-Thirty, the dog, and Mad, Zott’s equally clear-sighted daughter.

I personally loved the fact that Elizabeth is absolutely herself, whatever the situation. If this means presenting a cookery show in chemical terms (something the audience love as it means they aren’t being patronised) then so be it! Similarly, she is happy to row on a men’s team, make coffee in scientific equipment and teach Six-Thirty an extensive vocabulary. All absolutely normal to her – so why compromise?

As mentioned, Elizabeth’s life isn’t easy and the real warmth in this book comes from the characters who become her support network. There is a fabulous neighbour, Harriet, and poor long-suffering Walter, the producer on the cookery show who has to deal with some of Elizabeth’s more controversial moments on TV. In the face of Zott’s sometimes superhuman resolve, it’s lovely to see some more human and flawed characters.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes inspirational stories about women who defy the odds to achieve something amazing. The 1960s gender politics is shocking for a modern reader – in some ways showing how far we’ve come, although always with an undercurrent of ‘some things (sadly) don’t change’. I believe too that this is shortly to become a TV series, so now is definitely the time to read this book ahead of seeing it on screen.

If you’d like a copy of this fabulous book, please use my affiliate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo by Alex Kondratiev on Unsplash

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TheQuickandtheRead

Bookworm, Mum and English teacher. Resident of Cheshire in the rainy north of England but an Essex girl at heart and by birth. View all posts by TheQuickandtheRead

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Reviews of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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Lessons in Chemistry

by Bonnie Garmus

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Book Summary

A must-read debut! Meet Elizabeth Zott: a "formidable, unapologetic and inspiring" (Parade) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is "irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat" (The New York Times Book Review).

New York Times Bestseller • Good Morning America Book Club • One of NPR's Best Books of 2022 • One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Year—New York Times, Bustle, Real Simple, Parade, CNN, Today, E! News, Library Journal Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo. Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

Chapter 1 November 1961

Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there'd even be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year-old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was over. Despite that certainty, she made her way to the lab to pack her daughter's lunch. Fuel for learning, Elizabeth Zott wrote on a small slip of paper before tucking it into her daughter's lunch box. Then she paused, her pencil in midair, as if reconsidering. Play sports at recess but do not automatically let the boys win, she wrote on another slip. Then she paused again, tapping her pencil ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

• The late 1950s into the early 1960s was supposedly a halcyon time in American history. But was it? The war was over and men returned home to take back the jobs women had done in their absence. As a result, women were pushed into more subservient roles. What influences played a part in encouraging women to accept their place as only in the home? And why, in today's world, when women are in the workforce in record numbers, are they still doing most of the housework and child-raising?
• Elizabeth Zott had no formal education, and yet she was able to self-educate, thanks to her library card. With the advent of technology, the library almost seems outdated, though many would argue that the library is more important than ever. Do you think ...
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Media Reviews

Reader reviews, bookbrowse review.

Bonnie Garmus's debut, Lessons in Chemistry, introduces readers to an exceptional woman struggling to succeed in a male-dominated field. Garmus sets her novel in the days before the Equal Rights Amendment and the #MeToo movement, when most men — and many women as well — believed that any woman who dared to enter a traditional men's profession was either "a lightweight or a gold digger," in the author's words. One might assume the novel is a dark, weighty exploration of the sexual discrimination rampant during the 1950s and early 1960s. Amazingly, it's really not; although the book's substance depends largely on this theme, its overall tone is positive and affirming... continued

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(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs ).

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Beyond the Book

A short history of the cooking show.

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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus audiobook review – a smart and funny feminist fable

A witty and incisive skewering of the patriachy in society and science, with endearingly straight-talking characters

E lizabeth Zott is a research scientist trying to make her way in a man’s world. It’s 1952, a time when women are expected to give up their careers to get married and have children. But Elizabeth isn’t content having her work sidelined – or, worse still, stolen – by her male colleagues at California’s Hastings Research Institute, so she resolves to keep working and never get married. When she falls in love with Calvin Evans, a Nobel-nominated chemist, she declines his marriage proposal but agrees to move in with him and get a dog.

Bonnie Garmus’s smart and funny feminist fable – a TV adaptation of which arrives this month on Apple TV+ starring Brie Larson – is read by the British actor Miranda Raison, who delights in Elizabeth’s pithy observations on the many ways women are undermined by men. An unconventional and charismatic heroine determined to live life on her terms, Elizabeth must find ever more ingenious ways to make a living and challenge the status quo.

Fast-forward to the early 60s and Calvin is dead, Elizabeth a single parent to their precocious daughter Madeline. She is also, improbably, a TV star. Having been fired from her research job for being pregnant and unmarried, she is now hosting a hugely successful cooking series, where she tutors housewives in home-cooking while introducing science and liberal politics by stealth. Moving between comedy and tragedy, Lessons in Chemistry is a powerful and entertaining portrait of a woman battling misogyny and visiting revenge on those who wish to silence her.

Lessons in Chemistry is available via Penguin Audio, 11hr 56min

Further listening Still Life Sarah Winman , 4th Estate , 14hr 55min A young soldier named Ulysses meets Evelyn, a sixtysomething art historian, by chance in a Tuscan bomb shelter during the second world war in this sweeping novel. Read by the author.

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A Death in the Parish The Reverend Richard Coles , Weidenfeld & Nicolson , 8hr 25min Coles reads the second book in his bestselling Canon Clement series, which brings a new vicar, and a ritualistic killing, to the cosy village of Champton St Mary.

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Book Review

Lessons in chemistry.

• Bonnie Garmus
• Comedy , Drama

Readability Age Range

• 15 years old and up
• Doubleday Books
• Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek; #1 New York Times Bestseller; GMA Book Club Pick

Year Published

When Elizabeth Zott becomes the host for an afternoon cooking show, the men want her to do things their way. But as a good chemist, she’s much more interested in changing up the formula. There are, after all, lessons that need to be learned.

Plot Summary

In 1962, a woman’s life is far from easy.

I mean, some would say that if a “gal” just stayed in her lane, got married, raised a family and minded her Ps and Qs, then things were manageable. But Elizabeth Zott has never been that kind of woman.

I mean what do Ps and Qs have to do with anything ?!

In her heart of hearts, Elizabeth is simply and purely a scientist—a chemist, to be specific. And that’s what makes sense to her. Formulas. Experiments. Chemical bonds. Those are all things that fit well in her brain. In truth, not only do they fit, but they help make sense of life itself.

That’s why Elizabeth Zott is not only a great scientist but also a pretty great cook. It’s all a matter of chemical combinations, precise formulas and experimentation.

But … more about that cooking side of things in a moment.

You see, for all of her hard work and careful focus, everything has always seemed to go wrong for the very talented Zott. And a lot of it has been driven by the hardheaded, domineering and lust-driven men of science in 1962. (No, I take that back. It’s the men in every walk of life in 1962 that are the problem.)

For nearly all men of the day, a pretty woman—and Elizabeth Zott is surely one of those—is supposed to stick to the secretarial pool. Or the bedroom. Well, they’d find the kitchen to be acceptable, too, I suppose. But for a woman to be the smartest person in the room? The one who formulates groundbreaking theories and wins science grants? Oh no, that can never be a woman’s role.

In fact, if a woman does come up with something of great interest, her male superior is likely to steal it and publish it as his own.

Naturally, by age 28, Elizabeth Zott has already had a difficult go of things. She was almost raped as a college student. She was kicked out of her doctoral program after the above result. She met and lost the most loving and brilliant man she had ever met. And now, here she sits. She’s jobless and with a young child out of wedlock.

But that’s when something good happens. (It didn’t feel good at the moment, but it was.) Through a confluence of disparate circumstances involving Zott’s handmade school lunch; a particularly irksome teacher; and a divorced father/producer at the end of his rope; Elizabeth Zott receives a job offer.

If she can display just a bit of her attractiveness and a dash of her cooking skill in an afternoon TV slot—one that was recently vacated by a clown show—she can earn a little money to support herself and her daughter.

Her first reaction is a definite no . But then something dawns on her. She might not draw a huge audience, but a cooking show is, in essence, a lesson about chemistry and chemical reactions. And she could teach it.

She wouldn’t wear the required tight TV costume or smirk foolishly for the camera, of course. But she could talk to women. She could teach them, challenge them, experiment along with them. And who knows, she might just change up the formula of their lives a little.

Experimental formulas have always been her forte, after all.

Christian Beliefs

Elizabeth looks askance at anything to do with religion or faith. Not only does she repeatedly declare that faith is foolish and baseless (as do others), but she also isn’t even geared to tolerate it. We learn that Elizabeth’s father was something of a con-artist evangelist who was eventually jailed for nearly killing people with his grandstanding and explosive displays “of faith.” Her mother ran off to another country to escape paying taxes on their ill-gotten wealth.

Elizabeth’s father also drove her older brother to suicide with repeated declarations of God’s hatred for the young man’s sin.

Elizabeth admits to a woman in her show’s audience that she doesn’t believe in God when the woman asks about saying grace before a meal. Elizabeth’s admission causes some to picket outside the show and say nasty things about her lost soul.

Elizabeth’s soulmate, brilliant scientist Calvin Evan’s, was raised in a Catholic orphanage after his adoptive parents were killed in an accident. It is strongly implied that he had to fight off sexually abusive priests as a boy, and the priests also lie and cheat to get donations. The school’s teachers rip sections out of science texts that don’t match up with their theology.

Calvin also has a series of correspondences with a Presbyterian minister. They share thoughts of science and faith. But while Calvin never wavers from his declaration that faith has no bearing on life, the minister eventually steps back from faith in God. In fact, when we meet the man later, he’s still in the ministering profession (and a nice man), but someone without any spiritual conviction.

The only positive thing said about godliness is when Elizabeth states that she starts thinking of her neighbor, a helpful woman named Harriet, as “something holy.” She sees Harriet as a “practical priest,” someone she can confess things to—”fears, hopes, mistakes.”

Other Belief Systems

Calvin and Elizabeth both declare that only science can be empirically proven to be factual. And so that’s where their faith and beliefs lie.

You could say, however, that Elizabeth’s 4-year-old daughter, Madeline, has a special spiritual sensitivity about her. She’s very bright and perceptive, and she senses other people’s unspoken thoughts such as Elizabeth’s hidden sadness, their dog’s feelings of guilt and Harriet’s fear that she has never been in love.

Authority Roles

Most of the people who have authority over Elizabeth are men. And men, in general, aren’t very laudable in Lessons in Chemistry . Most are, at the very least, emotionally abusive to nearly every woman they meet. They demean them, ignore them and, in a number of cases, abuse them verbally, emotionally and physically. And it’s expected that women in 1962 should take what they’re given and stay quiet about it.

For instance, when a college professor attempts to rape Elizabeth, the cop writing up the crime asks a bleeding Elizabeth if she wants to make an apology statement, suggesting that doing so will make things easier for her in the long run . She refuses and loses her position in a doctoral program. In fact, of all the men we meet in this story, only a few are portrayed as trustworthy and upright.

Both Elizabeth and Calvin have no connection with their parents. And they have very few people they can look to for positive guidance.

On the other hand, Elizabeth is an odd combination of brilliance and beauty mixed with something close to savant levels of emotional detachment. She smiles on, perhaps, three occasions in the story. However, she is a gifted teacher and loving mother. She teaches daughter Madeline to read at a very young age while helping her understand the complexities of her young life. She even takes on the job of teaching their adopted dog to understand human words, growing his lexicon of understood phrases into the hundreds.

Harriet and her husband divorce. She finds a caring companion in Mr. Pine. People in authority openly lie to gain prestige, recognition and money.

Profanity & Violence

The book doesn’t feel densely profane, but there are repeated uses of f- and s-words, exclamations of “h—,” “d–n” and “b–tch” and misuses of Jesus’ name.

We hear of some people drinking. Harriet is hit with a bottle thrown by her drunken husband. She makes it plain that he gets drunk often.

Elizabeth notes that her relationships with men (other than Calvin Evans) tended to be destructive and negative. “She only ever seemed to bring out the worst in men. They either wanted to control her, touch her, dominate her, silence her, correct her or tell her what to do,” she thinks.

We see several situations that are quite demonstrative of that thought. She is sexually attacked by a college professor, bloodied and slapped senseless, and the rape is only stopped because she jams a sharpened pencil into the man’s side. Another woman says a similar thing happened to her. And another man angrily approaches Elizabeth and pushes his exposed genitals in her face before being stopped by the sharp end of a large knife.

A man is killed in an unfortunate accident when he falls and is run over by a car. Another man has a massive heart attack. Someone is said to have committed suicide by hanging.

Sexual Content

Elizabeth reports that her beloved older brother was gay. Elizabeth’s producer friend, Mr. Pine, finds out that his young daughter was actually the product of an affair his wife had with another man. But he declares that regardless of the genetics, she is still his daughter. “He loved her with all his heart,” the book tells us.

Some men and women make rude suggestions and untrue statements about Elizabeth and her sexual life, suggesting that she’s promiscuous. The accusations are largely baseless, but the unmarried Elizabeth does have a sexual relationship with Calvin. (The story describes some of their caressing conversations while lying together after sex.) Calvin asks Elizabeth to marry him, but she refuses.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion question for books at focusonthefamily.com/magazine/thriving-family-book-discussion-questions .

Additional Comments

Lessons in Chemistry is a New York Times bestselling book that was adapted and recently released as a stylish AppleTV+ series starring Brie Larson .

The book has a “young adult” energy about it. And first-time author Bonnie Garmus uses a compelling female protagonist and an early 1960s setting to create a memorable feminist fantasy.

This tale presents a sometimes amusing and insightful perspective on life and learning. But potential readers should also note that the story frowns at what it considers the “failings” of traditional marriage, and (with a few exceptions) turns the men from the 1960s into buffoonish and villainous stereotypes. In addition, Lessons in Chemistry delivers repeated negative comments about faith and those who have faith in God as part of their lives.

Interestingly though, the book as a whole is rather narrowly focused on its own sermonizing. And those full-throated lessons will offer contemplative fuel, or at least combustive chemistry, to readers of a certain stripe.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not necessarily their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

Review by Bob Hoose

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Review: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is a dazzling story about one woman’s fight against misogyny.

I try to read many of the celebrity book club picks and after finishing True Biz by Sara Novic (Reese’s April Book Club Pick), I decided to try Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (GMA April Book Club Pick). I’ve seen so many glowing reviews for the novel and my expectations were sky high. And it delivered. I quite enjoyed it and I thought the ending is extremely satisfying.

But I will say it did take me a bit to get into the story. Longer than I expected. I actually felt the story really took off when the TV cooking show part began.

What’s the Story About

Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott: a one-of-a-kind scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show.

Elizabeth has dealt with it all. Plenty of misogyny and people doubting her skills. All she wants to do is work on her scientific research but the patriarchy keeps standing in her way. Everything changes for Elizabeth when the most unlikely event happens—she falls in love with a fellow scientist, Calvin. 

But as life is unpredictable, Elizabeth eventually finds herself as a single mother and without a job. Through an extraordinary set of events, she ends up becoming the host of a TV cooking show. And while she takes cooking very seriously, she also embarks plenty of lessons to her mostly female audience.

Elizabeth’s Story

Elizabeth is such an engaging protagonist. I don’t think I’ve ever read one quite like her before. She’s extremely serious and to the point. She’s very intelligent and tired of dealing with other people’s bad behavior. Elizabeth shows her vulnerable side only on rare occasions.

While the story is quirky and the writing is clever and humorous at parts, there are some serious topics addressed. Including a couple scenes that deserve a trigger warning, which I did not anticipate. I do think the cover, while cute, is a bit misleading in some ways.

I liked reading about Elizabeth’s journey and what she is able to overcome is inspiring. However, I would have liked to have seen more scenes with her daughter. And I do think it took too long to arrive at the TV show component.

I will say, the supporting cast is outstanding—probably one of the best I’ve read in a long time.

Supper at Six

You’ll be entertained by how Elizabeth got herself a cooking show! And she does not want to follow any direction from her producer, Walter. She takes matters in her own hands and combines her love and knowledge of chemistry to teach her audience how to cook and much more. Each episode serves as a life lesson of some sorts.

I felt this part was so vivid that it almost felt like it was a real show! I can’t only imagine the impact if a show like this had existed in the ’60s.

All in all, I really liked the novel. Not a perfect execution but I do think it’s a unique and very entertaining story.

For book clubs, check out my discussion questions here .

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Thursday 13th of July 2023

There should be a way to raise $ for girls in America,so they can read, go to school,college,and travel making a good life for themselves and their children,if they choose. Idiots are making $ on crap,and don't give a damn about these kids in mediocre to awful situations. A collection plate for any kid that wants a better education and life in America, esp in these impoverished poor school systems. Earned scholarships for girls,all they have to do is want it. (Their fairy godmothers will pay for 75-90%.).July2023.not 1923.

Paula Moroz

Friday 4th of November 2022

The show became so real I almost began to search the TV schedule for the time! I liked the "Children set the table" sign off.

Beyond the Bookends

A Book Blog for Women and Moms who Love to Read

24 Thoughtful Lessons in Chemistry Book Club Questions

Lessons in Chemistry was published in April of 2022 and immediately jumped onto the New York Times bestseller list where it has stayed for over a year. The Lessons in Chemistry book club questions below can hopefully be a starting point for your book club discussion for your Lessons in Chemistry book club.

Below you will find a review, Lessons in Chemistry summary, the ending, and book club discussion questions for Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Some of the questions may have spoilers but they are clearly marked. We have tried to keep the site as spoiler free as possible but, we thought the Lessons in Chemistry book club questions would not be complete without some details. Feel free to use the page jumps to avoid the ending if you have not read the book.

*Lessons in Chemistry Book Club Questions Post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through links result in a small commission to us at no cost to you. Some books have been gifted. All opinions are our own.

Table of Contents

Lessons in Chemistry Book Club Questions and Discussion Guide

Book review // summary // lessons in chemistry ending explained // lessons in chemistry book club questions // shop for lessons in chemistry // lessons in chemistry book club ideas // book recommendations, lessons in chemistry review.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

April 2022 gma book club pick.

I don’t even know where to begin with this unique contemporary fiction story. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in the 50s when women were expected to know their place in society — their place being the kitchen and the home.

Elizabeth struggles to be taken seriously in her field and as a single mother, in this amazing book. So when an offer to host a cooking show for women is put in her path, she reluctantly takes it.

She uses her no-nonsense attitude and chemistry principles to teach the women in America to not only cook but to follow their dreams outside of the home.

Zott is a quirky character who reminds us a little bit of Eleanor Oliphant with a charming daughter and a dog whose inner monologue is as quirky as hers. There are so many book club questions for Lessons in Chemistry and we have a few tips for making your Lessons in Chemistry book club a success.

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Lessons in Chemistry Summary

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus begins in November 1961. Elizabeth’s audit packs her daughter’s school lunches before heading off to work as the star of a cooking show called Supper at Six. 

In January 1952 Elizabeth is a chemist at the Hastings Research Institute. She had been a doctoral candidate at UCLA, but her acceptance to the program was rescinded after she stabbed her advisor with a pencil when he sexually assaulted her. There, she meets Calvin Evans, a brilliant chemist. they become close friends and eventually, they fall in love and move in together. Elizabeth is adamant that they will never get married because she doesn’t want her accomplishments to be associated with his name and she does not want kids.  Instead, they adopt a dog who they name Six-Thirty.

One morning while running, Calvin dies in an accident leaving Elizabeth pregnant with his child. She is also fired from her job and with no way to support herself and the baby she begins to consult from home. Once Madeline is born, she realizes that she will have to do more and takes up hosting Supper at Six. Once again Elizabeth faces the challenges associated with working in a male-dominated industry. Her show, however, becomes a huge success and empowers women from across the country.

This book deals with many themes including sexual assault, suicide, sexism, LGBTQ acceptance, adoption, and more.

Lessons in Chemistry Ending Explained (With Small Spoilers)

Elizabeth discovers the truth about Calvin’s past in the boys’ home. Avery Parker, the head of the Parker Foundation is actually Calvin’s biological mother. She had tried to reach out to her son as soon as she learned the truth. She thought he had died. Eventually, Avery discovers the truth about Elizabeth’s former boss and offers her a position as the head of chemistry. She is able to continue her work on abiogenesis that she had started a decade earlier.

Lessons in Chemistry Book Club Questions (Small Spoilers)

These book club questions for Lessons in Chemistry are a great way to start the conversation. Feel free to use these as a template for your book club or think of your own as well.

• How did the late 1950s and early 1960s society push women into subservient roles?
• Do you think Elizabeth Zott’s experience in the workplace would be different if the story took place today?
• Why do women still bear the majority of housework and child-raising responsibilities despite having an increased presence in the workplace?
• Elizabeth Zott’s self-education through her library card was an essential tool for her success. In today’s technologically advanced world, do you still believe libraries are important? If so, why?
• How do you think this story would have been different if it took place now?
• Elizabeth refuses Calvin’s marriage proposal because she did not want her achievements overshadowed by his name. How do you feel about women being recognized under their husbands’ names, even if they have maintained their own identities?
• What are some of the specific acts of sexism in the book?
• What does the pencil symbolize in Lessons in Chemistry?
• The book uses rowing as a metaphor throughout the book. Why do you think Garmus did this?
• Do you agree with the rowing metaphor?
• What do you think about the relationship between Elizabeth and Calvin?
• Do you think they were a good fit and why?
• How did Calvin’s death change life for Elizabeth?
• Six-Thirty is one of the most important characters in the book. Why do you think the author chose to write from the point of view of a dog?
• Six-Thirty makes a lot of observations about human behavior. Do you agree with his observations?
• What do you think of Elizabeth Zott as a mother?
• What do you think are Elizabeth Zott’s strengths and weaknesses?
• Why did Elizabeth agree to host the cooking show?
• Why do you think “Supper at Six” was successful?
• At the end of every episode of Supper at Six, Elizabeth says “Children, set the table. Your mother needs a moment to herself.” What do you think about that quote?
• Why did Elizabeth leave the cooking show and do you think she made the right choice?
• How did you feel about the ending?
• What do you think is next for Elizabeth?
• SPOILERS BELOW How did you feel at the end when you discovered that Calvin’s mother was responsible for the funding for Elizabeth’s research?

Shop for Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in chemistry book club ideas.

There are so many different ways you can approach food if you are having a Lessons in Chemistry book club. The story takes place in the ’50s and 60’s so you might want to begin there. Fun things to serve for appetizers are: Swedish meatballs Wedge Salad Cheese fondue.

For dessert, you can also have fondue but you would want to do chocolate instead. Bundt cakes were popular in the 60s along with Ambrosia (think fruit plus mini marshmallows).

Elizabeth Zott teaches how to make family meals like stews and casseroles with her chemistry expertise. Feel free to add these to your Lessons in Chemistry book club if you are up to the task.

There are so many choices for drinks that are great throwbacks to the 50s and 60s if you are hosting a Lessons in Chemistry book club. Manhattan Old Fashioned Sidecar Whiskey Sour Mint Julep A Gimlet Daquiri Gin Fizz

Book Recommendations: What to Read After Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

The Maid by Nita Prose

January 2022 good morning america pick.

Molly Gray works as a maid in a grand hotel and gets joy from leaving things orderly and pristine. Molly struggles with reading social cues and has had even more trouble since her gran can no longer help.

When Molly finds a dead body in a room at the hotel, she becomes a prime suspect and will need all her friends to help her.

It is also a perfect book for books like Lessons in Chemistry. If you read the Lessons in Chemistry summary, you will see that Elizabeth Zott is not like anyone else. If you are holding a Lessons in Chemistry book club, this might be the perfect book to read next.

Don’t forget to check out our The Maid Book Club Questions: Perfect for 2023 .

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Woman Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

This true and amazing story of the Black female mathematicians and their role in the space race reads like a fiction novel.

So many people know this story because of the movie but, the book gives so many more details- as is usually the case with adaptations. These women, who were originally sent to teach math in the South’s segregated schools, were called into service during WWII.

They were some of the most brilliant minds of their generation. They eventually helped in the race to space during the cold war. This non-fiction pick from books like Lessons in Chemistry was captivating from start to finish. If you have finished your lessons in Chemistry book club and are looking for a non-fiction book, this is a wonderful choice.

Books Like Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

If you loved Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and are looking for books like it, check out this list.

Best Books for Book Clubs to Read in 2023

If you love this post, you will love our list of best books for book clubs to read.

Can you give me some book club questions for Lessons in Chemistry?

1. How did the late 1950s and early 1960s society push women into subservient roles? 2. Do you think Elizabeth Zott’s experience in the workplace would be different if the story took place today? 3. Why do women still bear the majority of housework and child-raising responsibilities despite having an increased presence in the workplace?

What should I do for a Lessons in Chemistry book club?

In addition to using the Lessons in Chemistry book club discussion questions, you can provide appetizers, desserts, and drinks that are appropriate for the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Will you be using The Lessons in Chemistry book club questions for your next book club?

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Good morning! I am the adult program facilitator at a small rural library in central PA, and the book group will be reading “Lessons in Chemistry” for our December book review. I found your site, and thought the questions posed to use in discussion were very thought provoking. Thank you! Janet

Wonderful! Let us know what other books you are doing in the future, we have more of these lists coming out soon!

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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

• Publication Date: April 5, 2022
• Genres: Fiction , Historical Fiction , Humor
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday
• ISBN-10: 038554734X
• ISBN-13: 9780385547345
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8 major changes 'Lessons in Chemistry' has made from the bestselling book (so far)

Posted: October 13, 2023 | Last updated: October 13, 2023

• Apple TV+'s "Lessons in Chemistry" is based on Bonnie Garmus' 2022 novel of the same name.
• We rounded up the biggest differences between the adaptation and the bestselling book.
• Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the book and episodes that have aired so far.

The new Apple TV+ show "Lessons in Chemistry" remains in many ways faithful to Bonnie Garmus' bestselling book of the same name.

Both the series and the book tell the story of the uncompromising and unconventional Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson), a scientist on the verge of a major breakthrough in DNA research whose life trajectory changes after she meets and falls in love with one of her research institute's top scientists, Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman).

Elizabeth's relationship with and support from Calvin brings her closer than ever to making a splash in the science community, but after an unforeseen change in circumstances, she finds herself ousted from her position at the lab and reluctantly accepts a job as a host on a cooking program.

Making the most of the opportunity, Elizabeth decides to teach her audience of housewives and mothers the chemistry of cooking, empowering them to go beyond society's expectations of them, sparking a revolution.

Not every detail from the show has been included in the book and some aspects, characters, and storylines from the show have been altered, condensed, or replaced with others.

Here are the biggest differences between the book and the episodes of the show that have aired so far.

The way Elizabeth Zott and Calvin Evans first meet has been slightly altered.

In the book, Elizabeth brazenly enters Calvin's lab at Hastings Research Institute one day in search of some equipment for her own undersupplied lab. 

During their terse exchange, Calvin insults Elizabeth by assuming that she is a secretary, leading to her marching out with a box of beakers. Several days later, Calvin finds her and apologizes but Elizabeth shows no interest in making amends.

This is slightly altered for the show which shows Elizabeth working on her abiogenesis research after work hours. She sneaks into Calvin's locked lab and swipes a bottle of ribose from his shelves. 

The next day she finds herself confronted by Calvin, who mistakenly assumes she's a secretary and accuses her of stealing the bottle to sell on the black market. He even calls her a "fibber" when Elizabeth tells her she's a chemist, just like him. It's only when Calvin puts in a formal complaint about Elizabeth to Miss Frask (Stephanie Koenig), that he realizes she isn't lying.

The Little Miss Hastings pageant is entirely made up for the adaptation.

In the book, there is no mention of the Little Miss Hastings pageant, which Elizabeth is begrudgingly forced to participate in as "Miss Aminos" after she receives a formal warning about her behavior.

It's while grabbing her coat and making an early exit that Elizabeth encounters Calvin again, who at that very moment vomits on her.

In the book, this second meeting between Calvin and Elizabeth takes place at a theater following an opera performance the two both happen to be at, and it's Calvin's reaction to a date's perfume, rather than Mrs Donatti's that makes him nauseous.

Rather than be a serendipitous encounter as it is in the book, in the show Calvin reveals that he had actually attended the pageant to see Elizabeth and gift her the bottle of ribose as an apology for his rude remarks.

Harriet Sloane, Calvin's neighbor, plays a much larger role in the show.

The first episode introduces viewers to Harriet Sloane (Aja Naomi King), who doesn't appear until much later on in the book. Calvin's neighbor doesn't come into the story until after Elizabeth has moved in with Calvin. In fact, readers do not see Calvin interact with her at all.

But in the show, Harriet is shown to be a part of Calvin's daily life — in fact, it's shown that he even babysits her children sometimes. 

Her role in the series has been expanded to introduce a new storyline about the neighborhood where she and Calvin live being under threat of being demolished to make way for a new freeway.

Elizabeth is sexually assaulted by someone she considers a friend and a mentor, rather than an old and lecherous professor.

The second episode of "Lessons in Chemistry" opens with a flashback to Elizabeth's days studying at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and audiences learn the reason why she never managed to get her PhD. 

Shortly after submitting her proposal, she finds herself on the receiving end of unwanted sexual advances from her professor and personal mentor, Dr. Bates, a character who has been invented for the show. When she tells him she doesn't see him that way, he forces himself on her.

However, in the book, it is the older, lecherous Dr. Meyers who rapes Elizabeth in a brutal attack after finding her running last-minute tests on his latest research project late at night in the university lab.

In both the book and the adaptation, Elizabeth is able to stop her assailant by stabbing them in the gut with a pencil but pays the consequence of losing her place on her course when she refuses to offer a statement of regret.

This change to the story plays a role in Elizabeth's decision to distance herself from Calvin when she realizes that there is more than friendship between them.

Shortly after she is transferred to Calvin's lab so she can focus on her abiogenesis research, Elizabeth requests to be moved back after an exchange with Calvin brings up memories of her attack.

When she isn't allowed to, she decides to set up boundaries in their shared lab and begins acting coldly towards him.

None of this occurs in the book, but it helps underscore Elizabeth's apprehensive about growing close to Calvin, in case he turns out to be like other men she has encountered, or it jeopardizes her position at Hastings.

Six-Thirty appears earlier in the story in the show, and there's a different reason why he has his unique name.

In the second episode, Elizabeth finds a stray dog sniffing around the trash cans in her backyard, and taking pity on him, makes him a plate of fresh food. Later on, it's made clear that she's adopted him when she brings him to Calvin's house. 

When asked what his name is, Elizabeth says it's Six-Thirty "after the time he wakes me up in the morning. It's like clockwork."

In the book, Six-Thirty shows up in the story after Elizabeth and Calvin have begun living together and agree to get a dog.

He follows Elizabeth home from a nearby deli and gets his humorous name after Calvin asks Elizabeth who her friend is and, mishearing him, Elizabeth looks at her watch and reads him out the time.

Six-Thirty is depicted as a Goldendoodle, a breed that wasn't actually around in the 1950s.

In the book, Six-Thirty is described as "tall, gray, thin, and covered in barbed-wire-like fur," which brings to mind a dog like a Lurcher.

However, in the adaptation the failed bomb detection dog is shown to be a  Goldendoodle  — a cross a Golden Retriever and a Poodle that  didn't come about until the 1990s .

The show's version of Calvin accepts that Elizabeth doesn't want to get married without question.

At the end of the second episode, Elizabeth lays out the reasons why she never wants to get married or become a mother: for her, it would mean giving up everything else.

Calvin thanks her for letting him know and reassures her that "as long as I have you and you're happy that is enough for me."

These events unfold very differently in the book; even though Elizabeth has made her feelings about marriage clear, Calvin still tries to propose to her with a ring over lunch one day at Hastings.

He also has a hard time understanding why she's so opposed to not only marrying him but changing her last name to his and reveals that he has already added the name "Elizabeth Evans" to the deed of their home.

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The Chemistry Book (DK Big Ideas) Kindle Edition

• Print length 764 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher DK
• Publication date August 9, 2022
• File size 218543 KB
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09YCZLCG2
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK (August 9, 2022)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 9, 2022
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 218543 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 764 pages
• #5 in General Chemistry & Reference
• #78 in General Chemistry

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Green Chemistry

Recent catalytic innovations in furfural transformation.

To address the problem of non-renewable resources and energy shortages, converting biomass, the only renewable carbon resource on Earth, into various fine chemicals holds significant value. Furfural stands out as one of the most promising platform compounds derived from lignocellulosic biomass. Due to its highly functional molecular structure, furfural can be selectively converted into various fuels and high-value compounds. This review discusses recent developments in furfural production and its conversion into related chemicals, such as furfuryl alcohol, γ-valerolactone, pentanediols, and nitrogen-containing compounds. It provides an in-depth understanding of the catalysts, systems, and mechanisms used in the selective conversion of furfural. The review also explores primary pathways and catalytic mechanisms, with a focus on advances in heterogeneous catalytic systems. Furthermore, it outlines future research directions and offers insights into potential applications in this field. This review presents several research trends, aiming to provide innovative ideas for further exploration of furfural downstream products in a greener, more efficient, and cost-effective manner.

• This article is part of the themed collection: 2024 Green Chemistry Reviews

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K. Zhao, B. Wen, Q. Tang, F. Wang, X. Liu, Q. Xu and Y. Dulin, Green Chem. , 2024, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D4GC01983K

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