Book Review: Novel of a talented chemist whose career is sabotaged time and again

With the title Lessons In Chemistry, you’d be forgiven for expecting a serious novel. But while Bonnie Garmus’s book is driven by heavy themes – including loss and injustice – its brightly coloured, retro-kitsch cover tells us this is no dour contribution to the Women’s Fiction genre. Indeed, this substantial, intelligent novel is a funny, entertaining, quick read.

Set in the early 1960s, the story centres on Elizabeth Zott, a talented chemist whose career is sabotaged time and again by powerful male academics (and a few jealous women) who set about cutting her down to size, sometimes in violent ways.

This changes when she meets Calvin Evans, also a brilliant chemist, who is not threatened by her intellect but invigorated by it.

Nevertheless, events conspire to remove Elizabeth from the laboratory and put her in a TV studio kitchen as host of a live daytime cooking show.

As with everything Elizabeth does, she approaches her new role with the earnestness of a scientist. Despite not being an entertainer, she manages to turn the show into a nationwide hit, empowering women across America to see themselves as domestic scientists and daring them to explore their potential outside the home.

Garmus’s storytelling has a strong sense of cartoonish fun that keeps the narrative ticking along and the reader engaged.

The main villain is so dastardly that he would shame Sylvester Sneekly, aka the Hooded Claw; her chip-off-the-block daughter has the precociousness of Lisa Simpson multiplied by 100; and the unforgettable family dog, named Six Thirty, is a frequent narrator.

Zott herself is an unusual but likable protagonist. Mostly serious and humourless, she is also articulate, strong (a keen rower), and beautiful.

However, because she is fearless and self-assured from the start, readers might not feel compelled to be too concerned for her fate. Instead, they can hope her detractors get their comeuppance and her allies are rewarded, and it’s in the anticipation of just deserts where the joy of the book lies.

Overall, Lessons In Chemistry is smartly written and amusing: an excellent novel for getting you through the last rainy days of spring.