Review: Lessons In Chemistry


Like Nigella Lawson, I am crushed to have reached the end of this book. It has been a true companion in recent days, a place I have relished (and rushed) to return to. Its occupants devastatingly alluring, a sheer buzz to hang out with, even the reprehensible ones. Lessons in Chemistry is simply the best book I’ve read this year. Okay, it’s the also the first book I’ve read but what a humdinger to start with!

Smart, sassy, no nonsense – this summarises the premise, plot and the standout heroine, Elizabeth Zott who it turns out, is the sum of many superlative things: chemist, rower, mother, TV star which ultimately concentrates down to staunch feminist. Or as she prefers, humanist. But that’s not all.

This novel heightens one’s sense of intelligence. It’s an articulate read that rallies intellectual spirit and challenges status quo smashing the shackles of antiquated belief systems centering around useless values based on categories of sex, race, economic status and religion and fosters a powerful sense of sisterhood which positively encompasses males, as well. In short, it sings. Loud. Ludicrously. Lavishly, with language that enfolds you in a gentle cloud of vague familiarity flavoured with impossible chemical nomenclature that inexplicably fills you with overwhelming clarity. It’s a heady experience.

Garmus’ narrative is bold, daring and uncompromising, just like Elizabeth who gives triple-fold more than she gets and she really gets some – good and bad. Her personal mottos revolve around tenacity, determined logic, a need not to be seen, but rather to be heard. She epitomises womanhood in a zillion ways or rather what we might all aspire to be like despite or maybe in spite of living in the 21st century rather than in the middle of the last as she did.

Lessons in Chemistry is exquisite, a sublimely satisfying study of the lives orbiting around Elizabeth, those she touched, those she loved and those she ticked off. It’s a constantly permutating equation of love and like all great love stories features moments of unprecedented reactions, tragedy and wit that caused me to spontaneously laugh out loud, multiple times. And of course, there’s a faithful companion – a dog – who knows over 980 human words.  Glorious.

Despite Elizabeth staring point blank down the barrel of a TV camera and explicitly telling us what to do and how to feel, there is not a sniff of didactic moralistic overtone. Not one molecule. Readers may feel an array of emotions reading this tale. Elizabeth will tell you they are all normal chemical and neurological responses to her situation. Pity was not one of them because this lady never once laid down and rolled over. She suffered. She strove on. She succeeded. As does this illuminating novel.

Lessons in Chemistry ticked all my boxes. I LOVE chemistry! I LOVE cooking. I LOVE a quietly persistent, champion who believes enough in herself to admit defeat but get on with the next chapter, the next dish, the next experiment regardless.

My Year 12 Chemistry teacher, a Mr Bland if you can believe it, once expostulated that chemistry is life. I have never forgotten it. Elizabeth’s own proclamation enforces this belief and the notion that, ‘your ability to change everything – including yourself – starts here’.  Thank you, Elizabeth. It’s been an absolute pleasure.

13/10 which I think tops an High Distinction.

Title:  Lessons in Chemistry
Author:  Bonnie Garmus
Publisher:  Penguin UK
Publication Date:  2022
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780857528131
For ages:  15 – 100
Type:  Adult Fiction (also suited to younger adult readers)

Buy the Book: Boomerang Books, Penguin    

 

 

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