A review by mick16
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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. 
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