Last week my husband turned on “Lessons in Chemistry” on AppleTV+. I missed the first half of the episode, but found myself riveted by the second half! He asked me if I knew whether or not it was a true story. I didn’t. So I did what any normal human being does in 2023…I googled it!
The short answer is, no. It’s not a true story. But it IS a book! I immediately went to amazon and purchased my copy, (it arrived the next day) and promptly told my husband he was forbidden from watching any more episodes until I finished the book.
His first instinct was to groan…he found a TV show we were both interested in…but then he chuckled and said, “Well, that will only be like three days!” He was almost accurate. It took me a week. But given the week we’ve had (an X-ray and MRI for one child, a doctor’s appointment for the other, and my sister’s wedding is in 2 days and counting), that’s an impressive testament to just how captivating this book is! My to do lists piled up. See inset image. “One more cup of coffee and one more chapter…” I’m so happy I read the book before we really got into the series. It looks like it will be amazing, (everyone is talking about it!) but I’m someone who prefers to read the book before seeing the movie. I still enjoy the movies, but I need to read the book first!
Unlike my last book review, “Lessons in Chemistry” lacks the murder mystery vibes. But it is a page turner of a different kind. The first page sets the tone of the entire novel.
“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 through; 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.”
Elizabeth Zott is a woman, a character, written into the past for the feminist women of the 21st century. She is a chemist in a time when a woman’s place was in the home. Insert eye roll here. (I write this as a stay at home mom. But this was a decision made with my husband, for our family. Not by my husband, for me. Context matters.) She is, simultaneously a rebel, an inspiration, and a very lost soul. But then she meets Calvin Evans…a fellow scientist with a reputation for being surly and difficult to work with. But what they have is…you guessed it…chemistry!
Elizabeth and Calvin bond (chemistry pun fully intended) over their tumultuous and traumatizing childhoods. Elizabeth confesses she’s been sexually assaulted by an advisor when she was finishing her Master’s and Calvin reveals he lost both of his parents and then his aunt before the age of 10 when he was sent to a boys’ home. Their love story is pure and real and the thing fairytales are made of. But in the 1950s, being unwed and living together is Ground Zero for gossip and side glances. But they don’t care. They keep evolving together, researching, and living alongside each other while building their love story. Until an abrupt, life altering event changes the course of Elizabeth’s life forever.
I won’t give away too much. But you are given an up close and VERY personal view of depression, motherhood, Elizabeth’s reinventing of herself, and the complex science of adult friendships. All the while, Elizabeth proves to be a trailblazer and role model. For all women. Of any time period. She has an uncanny way of seeing the women around her for what they CAN be instead of what society and culture tell them they SHOULD be. The character development and the way Bonnie Garmus weaves their stories together is absolutely masterful! The ending will leave you with a smile on your face, but a yearning for more of the incredible story of Elizabeth Zott.
“Lessons in Chemistry” is witty, funny, and gut wrenchingly painful. You’ll literally laugh out loud and shed tears…sometimes simultaneously. Quick! Go buy the book. Or download it on Audible…Miranda Raison does a wonderful job narrating. (Confession…I loved this book so much I downloaded the audiobook so that I could also listen to it while I was grocery shopping!” And then let’s watch the series on AppleTV+! If Brie Larson’s performance in the first episode is any indication, this is one series that is going to be just as incredible as the novel!
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