Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Lessons in Chemistry

Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

41 reviews

lokes's review against another edition

funny hopeful informative 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? No

2.0

tw: mentions of rape

Well, I’m not really sure how to rate this one… I quite liked the characters and the stories, even if it bordered on the whimsical and imaginary at times (like the hyper intelligent dog, the many coincidences between characters and especially the major plot points, etc), and the main character was feminist in the sense of the 21th century, which did throw me off a few times. Also, there is no intersectionality to the feminism of the main character, and her motto seems to be „tell women you’re proud of them and make their unpaid, invisible work (namely the house hold chores and child rearing) visible and tell them, that you’re proud of them doing it, and they’ll revolt and become suffragettes!“
The only really bad part would be the rape scenes, because the author gave the characters absolutely no reaction to that (apart from her crying once and being slightly disturbed while giving her police statement), and later even went as far as to make her pull out a kitchen knife when another male character tries to rape her (which leads to him immediately having a heart attack), all the while never letting Elizabeth have the room to acknowledge the trauma she suffered before, or working on said trauma, as if the rape made her a better, stronger women and wasn’t trauma at all, but simply something she needed to go through in order to become a feminist/independent woman.
Apart from that, I think I liked it, even though the underlying plot is still about a man - her lover - and his long lost family. But hey, he was “one of the good ones”, to say it in the characters words…

Content Warnings

beccamay99's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

k_kara's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

zombiezami's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

I have seen that this book continues to be popular, and I wanted to try it for myself. I adored the characters and the writing. I thought the book was paced well, but there were a few threads that were started and never went anywhere. For example:

Walter's crush on Harriet and Elizabeth's participation in the rowing team after her pregnancy

. I also felt that, although it was in character for Elizabeth to be antiracist because she finds racism and all other forms of bigotry to be illogical, there are no Black characters or other characters of color in the book. Finally, the author employs some words turns of phrase that were definitely not used in the 1950s/1960s: e.g. "fast forward to now."

Even with all these caveats, I enjoyed the book very much, and I would highly recommend it. The author does an excellent job of showing how structural sexism harms all of society, not just women. The tragedies in the book feel very complex and human.

Content Warnings

bbmaan's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

mikk16's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Didn’t really know anything about this book going in but it seemed to be marketed as a very funny light book. Completely false. Less than 20 pages in there is a rape described in great detail. Throughout the book there is rape, suicide, pedophilia, abuse. I did not find it funny or light at all. This is also very much a white feminism book. There are no characters of color in the story. The one LGBTQ+ character dies by suicide. In the book being a housewife is compared to slavery. The daughter reads a book about the Congo cannibals. Many more problematic things to comment on but not going to list them all out.

Not sure how I felt about a good chunk of the book being narrated by a dog who understands language and can communicate with fetuses and the dead. Definitely wasn’t expecting fantasy elements.

Content Warnings

alisafrancyne's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.75

I wanted to read this book bc it seemed to be a good story with a little bit of romance and some humor. There was no humor. Elizabeth Zott is an oh so serious character and has gone through a lot. Nothing in the book was funny, not even darkly funny. Calvin Evans was the best character

I wish they didn’t kill him off so early. His death was confusing I had to read it a few times…did he get shot or ran over?

. Her daughter Mad is the second best character. If she had a spin off book, I’d probably read it. Just with a little bit less of Elizabeth Zott. I just don’t like her as the main character. I really wish I could have gave it more stars but it’s hard to.

Content Warnings