Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Lessons in Chemistry

I forget how much women in the past had to fight for the rights we enjoy today. The inequalities have in no way been eradicated, but I feel so fortunate to be living in the time that I do.

Elizabeth Zott is not exactly a lovable character - she is stubborn and she is odd. But she definitely earned my respect.

The book was a page-turner. What an exciting premise. I would say that reading the blurb, I wanted to read more about how Zott changed the women’s lives though. I think it would have been interesting to see more of the lives of the women behind the screen watching her and the little impacts they made in their own lives, rather than the huge focus on Zott’s life itself. It would have been a better balance - less about how she got to Supper at Six, but more on how the show or Zott herself made an impact on others.

The reason I say this is because it was almost ironic that this story that supposedly champions women ended up being more about a man (Calvin Evans). Evans was the huge catalyst behind Zott’s story, his death was central to the plot and his childhood was what ended up giving Evans the life she wanted. I didn’t enjoy that.

Also, another little critique I have is that Zott’s beauty was brought up quite a lot. I know that they were trying to emphasize that men looked at beauty a certain way back then, but for the sake of the story, I think the story wouldn’t have changed much without the mention of beauty (e.g. Frask also got assaulted and went through something similar to Zott, even when she was highlighted to be quite unattractive). This is particularly the case when considering how Garmus went to great lengths to emphasize Evans’ unattractiveness. It was almost like Garmus herself was putting Elizabeth into a box and claiming she got where she did because a woman’s beauty helps her.

Content Warnings

chronic_listener's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative sad medium-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

lcehanle's review against another edition

Go to review page

DNF at 24% for me, which I very rarely do, but it was starting to make me mad and I’m learning to DNF because there are too many other things out there to spend time on than books you don’t enjoy! I’m clearly the minority on this book, but at the risk of pointing to goodreads, this review by Jan says exactly why for me: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4664593747

Content Warnings

willbefunorelse's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

While I loved the characters and the premise of a strong, female lead in the 1950’s demanding to be seen and heard as an expert in her field, I thought the beginning of the book was a bit difficult to get into. The writing style wasn’t appealing to me at first and took some getting used to but by the end of the book it felt more natural. The realities of becoming a scientist during a time period when women were only considered homemakers was an important and interesting story to learn more about.

Content Warnings