LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY BY BONNIE GARMUS

Our protagonist Elizabeth Zott is a woman in STEM in the 1960s. More precisely she is a chemist trying to work on her research at the Hastings Research Center. She is not having an easy time thanks to the all-male team she has to work with. Either bullying her or stealing her work. 

Then she meets Calvin Evans. The man who becomes the other part of her mind and in the end the other part of her soul as well. They instantly click and fall in love with each other thanks to their shared passion; chemistry. Evans is a Nobel-nominated chemist at the same institute as Zott. Although he has a completely different approach to him from his colleagues Elizabeth doesn’t accept any kind of help from him. She is determined to fight her own fight against patriarchism in science in the best way she can. 

As the couple move on to live together they accidentally found the true narrator of the novel; Six-Thirty the four-legged warrior who quietly watches over them pretending that he is just an ordinary Canis lupus familiarise. Fast forward to a few chapters Zott becomes the host of an afternoon cooking show Supper at Six where she changes everything. Not just the way cooking was before her time but the collective mind of the audience as well.

She gives them science and confidence. Passion for a profession and compassion for who they are as individuals. She made me laugh and gave me the strength to keep going on no matter how weird or unusual the way I make my art.

Structure: The book has 400 pages. A middle length book I would say. Very easy to read, the chapters don’t stretch indefinitely so you can have nice little pauses if you need to. There was not a single page of boredom in it. 

I mean I have read it so fluidly like water sneaking through my fingers. Or silk. So if you have enough time on your hands you can definitely finish it in one or two days. The cover art is amazing and very smart. I especially love the sprayed edges version of it, with the Periodic Table on it. Simply awesome.

My take on it: This book was not just thought-provoking, or a book giving you anger management issues but it was also very funny. I absolutely admire the author’s sense of humour it really caught my laughing nerve and never let it go. On the other hand, it was interesting and it felt like watching an action-filled slice of life movie about Zott. No wonder, since Garmus is a creative director as well apart from being a copywriter.

In a conclusion on my journey reading Lessons In Chemistry; Elizabeth Zott’s character felt like a friend I wish I could have had when I was convinced I am too dumb to study Physics or Astronomy.

Now after reading the book I finally started to become my own Zott.

A Zott who changes not just the game but the person who plays it.

Thank you for the lessons Professor Zott.

I really hope there are going to be more books coming from Bonnie Garmus. I would love to read it first.