Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Lecciones de química by Bonnie Garmus

90 reviews

jor24's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Sexism

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

skylarkblue1's review against another edition

This was a slog to read through. I did not give a crap about any characters and apparently all feminist fiction is now just "look! this woman's life sucks! she's so smart but she's just constantly explicitly abused and shit all the time!". The blurb is complete false advertising, I got to the 50% mark and the only mention of the cooking show was a paragraph to 2 at the very very start. TV industry has been mentioned a single time since. The story so far has just been the main character being abused, screamed at and being depressed with a shitty husband.

There's just constant POV changes to everyone and everything - including the goddamn dog. It's not split up by chapters, it'd just be one paragraph is from one character, the next from someone completely different. I could not tell you what year any of the events that happened are from. I could not even really tell you all the different characters and who they where as people because honestly most of them didn't feel like people. The guys where mainly just misogynistic pricks, though some liked rowing! but that was about it for them. The women where mainly just "I'm being looked down on and abused but I'm secretly smart!" or just, idk, like not wanting to challenge the status quo so they where even flatter than that?

I'm reading this for a book club but even though there's still multiple days before the meeting I just don't care enough to read more. I don't even care about the cooking show element which was super interesting to me when I first heard about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

lil_saddie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Holding two truths at the same time: I enjoyed many aspects of this book and think the story telling was quite good with so many threads being woven together expertly and always taking Zott as deadly serious as she took herself. I enjoyed how fluidly the story could change POV and narration to give so many perspectives. 
Some spoilers further:
However, I wish I had checked for content warnings before reading because there are considerable themes of SA. I’m struggling with how necessary these multiple scenes and  references were as a plot point since this wasn’t based on a true story. I know it was incredibly common in the workplace without consequence in a way  that we have improved somewhat as a society today. But for a modern audience when 1 in 6 women have faced SA personally, who is the audience this narrative is trying to convince the severity of the situation to? We know the realities, and Zott being mistreated in the workplace without SA as part of the story feels like it should have been impactful enough. Not to mention how glossed over instances of pedophilia was for male characters. I guess in sum I feel those very triggering topics could have been handled better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Death of parent

redheadorganist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, and Abortion

hollzballz's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

emimero's review against another edition

inspiring reflective 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

4.5

Wow wow wow ! Finally something different. Bonnie Garmus really created something special here. It's not your typical romance book, it has so much more to it, women's conditions in the society, being different, strength and solidarity,.... It is way better than the show (which is good too by the way) but the details, the characters are so loveable and the plot keeps you going because again, I've never read something like that I truly don't know what's happening next ! Definitely recommend to read this gem ! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

gsmith923's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Pregnancy

radfordmanor's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Suicide

gemloukay's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

4.5

Spoilers ahead! Elizabeth Zott is a chemist struggling in the sexist world of 1950s/60s. She is beautiful and intelligent and won’t accept that she can’t have what the men in her life have.  When she falls for fellow chemist Calvin Evans and subsequently falls pregnant out of wedlock (despite him asking to marry her she refuses), she is further shunned by society. Unfortunately Calvin dies in an accident and she takes a job teaching the nation to cook (since cooking is chemistry after all!), which makes her a nationally acclaimed tv personality.  Their dog, Six Thirty, is a personality in himself and blames himself for Calvin’s death, so watches out for Elizabeth and her daughter Mad. I loved his inner monologue and how he was a character that had real thoughts but couldn’t voice any if them! 

The book deals with sexism, particularly the struggle for women to be seen as equals in science, alongside grief, the struggles of motherhood and the need for women to support each other both then and now. If you don’t like releasing about feminism, you’ll hate it. Thankfully for me I was brought up by strong women and men who supported them, so I found it to be an inspiring read. Some of the science was a bit simplistic for a supposedly brilliant chemist but then, unlike the women in this story, I was lucky enough to be able to study it at university so maybe I’m a bit more educated in the subject than most! An inspiring story and a brilliant debut novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, and Pregnancy

tommelisesofia's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cursing, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

It is White-centric.