Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Sorry to cheat, but this, from the book’s publicity blurb, perfectly captures this entertaining novel:

“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.” (End of quote.)

It’s been a long time, since I enjoyed a character as much as Elizabeth Zott. I cheered and chuckled as she makes her way through the 1950’s and 60’s as a scientist. A woman ahead of her time, she accepts no limitations, she walks right over fragile male egos, and she could care less that she isn’t accepted at the almost entirely male Hastings Institute.

Then she meets another scientist, Calvin Evans, who doesn’t fit in either. They fall in love and move in together, because Zott doesn’t believe in marriage — her religion is science. When she discovers she is pregnant and a single mother (you’ll have to read the book to find out why), Zott is fired and her financial circumstances leads her to become an unlikely, reluctant and uncompromising television star, with her popular TV cooking show, ‘Supper at Six’,

She refuses to wear the ultra-feminine (and tight) dresses chosen for her, and instead, dresses in a lab coat with a pencil stuck in her hair. Rather than a typical cooking show, she focuses on the chemistry of cooking, using chemical names for the ingredients, and developing recipes that are a fresh and healthy change from 1960’s cooking. The show becomes wildly popular with home makers everywhere, and no one is more surprised than Zott herself.

Zott’s daughter was one of my favorite characters – a precociously bright four-year old, Mad, an early reader, voraciously consuming the likes of Norman Mailer and Charles Dickens.

Because while musical prodigies are always celebrated, early readers aren’t. And that’s because early readers are only good at something others will eventually be good at, too. So being first isn’t special – it’s just annoying.

Not only did I love the immediate family of Elizabeth, Madeline and the rescued dog Six Thirty, I also was enamored with the other characters — Mrs. Sloane, Dr. Mason, Rev. Wakefield, Walter – her found family who loves her and provides the support she needs as a single working mom.

Lessons in Chemistry is a intelligent, witty and wonderful. The writing here is smart and engaging. I found myself chortling over phrase after phrase – and the veracity of them – here’s a few of my favorites quotes:

“When it came to equality, 1952 was a real disappointment.”

“Elizabeth Zott held grudges too. Except her grudges were mainly reserved for a patriarchal society founded on the idea that women were less. Less capable. Less intelligent. Less inventive. A society that believed men went to work and did important things—discovered planets, developed products, created laws—and women stayed at home and raised children.”

“No surprise. Idiots make it into every company. They tend to interview well.”

“(On religion) “I think it lets us off the hook. I think it teaches us that nothing is really our fault; that something or someone else is pulling the strings; the ultimately, we’re not to blame for the way things are; that to improve things, we should pray. But the truth is, we are very much responsible for the badness in the world. And we have the power to fix it.”

“It’s just that we tend to treat pregnancy as the most common condition in the world—as ordinary as stubbing a toe—when the truth is, it’s like getting hit by a truck. Although obviously a truck causes less damage.”

“Every day she found parenthood like taking a test for which she had not studied. The questions were daunting and there wasn’t nearly enough multiple choice.”

This was a great read and I enjoyed every page. Some of the situations are a bit far-fetched and strain believably but again, this is fiction and fun fiction.

Elizabeth Zott brought to mind some of my other favorite, unconventional, independent women characters – (click on each to read more about them).

Lillian Boxfish Euridice Gusmao Eleanor Oliphant Flavia de Luce

Once again, excuse me if I use another reviewer’s quote – it matches my feelings exactly.

“The most delightful novel I read this year—fresh and surprising—was Lessons in Chemistry: a fish-out-of-water story about a feminist hero who never stops pushing for what’s right. (I laughed out loud!)”
—Philip Galanes, The New York Times

This is Ms. Garmus’s debut novel – and it is a winner. I eagerly await her next.

A digital review copy was provided by Doubleday Books via Netgalley.

Yes, they’ve made a TV series based on the book. It airs on Apple TV which I don’t get. It received some pretty good reviews ~~ but as always I recommend reading the book first.