Fabulous Fiction Firsts #805

Tue, 05/17/2022 - 9:57am by muffy

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung 

Lessons in Chemistry * * * by Bonnie Garmus is by far, one the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook).  Already translated into 34 languages, it is being developed into an Apple TV+ series, starring Brie Larson. 

"Set in 1960s California, after a violent encounter with her PH.D advisor, Elizabeth Zott was escorted off the UCLA campus, and landed at Hastings Research Institute as a research chemist, where she has a run-in with her super-star colleague Calvin Evans over some missing beakers. Twice nominated for the Nobel and highly recruited while still in his 20s, Calvin was awkward, arrogant, and tenacious. But to Elizabeth’s surprise, was also kind,  the only one to treat her as an equal, and there was true chemistry between them. 

Three years later, Elizabeth found herself a single mother and out of a job. An unlikely confrontation with a TV producer landed her as the host of America's most beloved TV cooking show, Supper at Six. 

“With the help of a forthright neighbor, a loyal TV producer, and an astute dog, Elizabeth forges a path that includes an unexpected hobby as a rower and her no-nonsense cooking show, in which she draws on her knowledge of chemistry. Indefatigable and formidable, Elizabeth pushes the bounds of how women and their work are perceived in this thoroughly engaging debut novel.” (Booklist) 

“Feminism is the catalyst that makes Lessons in Chemistry 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...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.” (New York Times Book Review)

Listen to this delightful NPR interview with the author.

* * * = 3 starred reviews