LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus

Well, here we are, back in the land of “I told you so”. For so long now, readers have raved about Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and, although I thought it sounded OK, I was just not motivated to join in the chorus.

Or at least, I wasn’t, until I picked up a half price copy at the airport last weekend and started reading.

Lessons in Chemistry is the story of scientist Elizabeth Zott, a woman determined to overcome the patriarchy and succeed in the research field, despite the 1950s attitudes towards women who (a) work and (b) attempt to do so in fields that are for the men (like, scientific research). Maybe it was coming off the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert in Melbourne a couple of nights earlier, but I get the sense that Elizabeth would have thought fuck the patriarchy many times over, though far too gracious to verbalise it the way we Swifties do, 70 years later!

Elizabeth meets Calvin Evans and they fall madly in love - Evans a famous scientist whose idiosyncracies are tolerated because of the work he does, he too with an upbringing that shapes who he is. They are soon joined by a stray dog who acquires the unusual name of Six-Thirty, and I have to say I think Six-Thirty might have been my favourite character of all.

Elizabeth, quite by accident, finds herself out of the science lab and on television, ostensibly hosting a cooking show but teaching viewers to cook using the scientific names for things, espousing the use of real ingredients and the science of where they, too, come from. She throws in her own brand of feminism and women come to adore her, and her show becomes a national smash hit. She does this while raising her daughter, who inherits both her parents’ intellect but brings through the childlike innocence of discovery.

I expected that Lessons in Chemistry would be an “easy read” and it was, although there is a scene which may be difficult for victims of sexual assault, and there should be a trigger warning about that. The story flows beautifully and weaves several plotlines in a way that is fascinating. I saw someone say it was fanciful and too random in that way - my own life experience would say otherwise. This big world of ours can be awfully small when it wants to be. Most importantly, I really liked the characters in this book - the fierce and fabulous Elizabeth, precocious Mad, sweet Harriet,the permanently exasperated Walter and, most specially, the delightful Six-Thirty. I’d love to see a book written from a dog’s perspective entirely, with the wisdom and wit of Six-Thirty.

It may have been an impulse buy and I may be late to the party, but I am so happy to have read Lessons in Chemistry and to be able to embrace all the fuss of it. It’s a big thumbs up from me.