Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel Lessons in Chemistry became an instant phenomenon the moment it was released in 2022. It was not only Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year for 2022, but also the winner for Best Debut Novel in the Goodreads Choice Awards. The novel currently holds almost 250,000 5-star ratings on Goodreads, with the book’s average rating being 4.35 stars. With such high acclaim surrounding the book, I wanted to see for myself what was so stellar about Garmus’s novel. I expected that, though the initial description didn’t appeal to me, I would fall in love with the novel like so many others and give it a four—maybe even five—star rating. This novel, though, ended up disappointing me.
The book focuses on the story of a young woman in science named Elizabeth Zott. After being unable to earn her PhD, Zott begins working at a research institute where she is surrounded by male colleagues that hold no respect for her. While working there, she meets a man named Calvin Evans, and the two slowly fall in love. An accident occurs, though, and Evans dies, leaving Zott alone. Zott soon finds out she is pregnant. The institute she works at soon fires her, and Zott must continue her research at home. She struggles to earn a stable income to help take care of her daughter until one day she is offered a job as a television cooking show host. Though Zott dislikes the job, she sticks with it so she can continue providing for her daughter. After quitting her job—and after the boss who held her back gets fired—Zott returns to her old workplace with a much more respectable job, finally receiving recognition for the scientist she is.
One of the greatest issues with the novel is Elizabeth Zott. The author was trying to create a powerful, female character who was able to overcome countless obstacles that prevented her from entering the scientific field. And Elizabeth Zott does seem deserving of everything she wanted, and readers can sympathize with her struggles. But there were also some overdone stereotypes added to her character. In an attempt to make her seem like a rational woman of science, Zott never expresses any emotions. Every time something happens, Zott never has any reaction besides explaining the rationality behind what happened. This seems to be an issue with many intelligent characters in an attempt to make them seem smart, especially female characters. Intelligent female characters should be allowed to express feelings. The idea that intelligent women cannot show feelings because it means they are not smart and are just overemotional is an overdone trope and one that is exhausting to read. Zott is a victim of this trope, and it weakens her as a character.
A lot of the narrative felt over-the-top, especially for a novel that wants to tackle a topic as serious as sexism in the scientific field. Every man in the novel—including Zott’s own husband at times—is misogynistic and hates Zott simply for being a woman in the workplace. And if they are not misogynistic toward her, they all express deeply misogynistic ideas to the point that it almost feels like reading a satire because no one would ever act like that in real life.
Zott’s daughter also feels a bit over-the-top. While she would be very intelligent because both her mother and her father were very smart, some of the things she says feel outlandish even for a super-intelligent four year old. It read more as the author not knowing how to write how children act than it did like a super-smart toddler. And at some points in the novel, readers are able to hear what the dog, Six-Thirty is thinking. This is supposed to be a literary fiction novel that addresses more serious topics like sexism in the workforce. To stop and write out what the family dog is feeling takes away from the issue, even if it was an attempt to add comedy to the novel.
I ended up rating this novel 2.5/5 stars, and it is currently one of my least favorite novels that I have read so far this year. I wanted to enjoy it as much as everyone else did, but I really do not see how it is so great. It simply feels like it is trying too hard to wow readers with its intelligent remarks and social commentary, while also proving it can be laid-back and quirky and in the end it accomplishes none of these things. The book’s description describes it as “laugh-out-loud funny,” but it left me rolling my eyes instead.
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