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Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with, of all things, her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.… (meer)
CHARACTERS: (not comprehensive- spellings could be wrong since I'm hearing the names, not reading them. Brief description from character’s first entry into story.) Elizabeth Zott – Protagonist – Chemist at Hastings Calvin Evans – Chemist at Hastings Madeline (Mad) Zott – Daughter of Elizabeth Harriet Sloan – Neighbor of Elizabeth Six-Thirty – Dog that follows Elizabeth home Fran Frask – Hasting’s employee Mr. Wakely – Calvan’s pen-pal Walter Pine – TV Producer Mr. Wilson – All Saint’s Orphanage donator Doctor Mason – Obstetrician, rowing mate Avery Parker – All Saint’s Orphanage Donator Mr. Denadie (sp?) – Elizabeth and Evan’s Supervisor at Hastings
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION: -SELECTED: This popped up in a Libby advertisement as having been produced for film by Apple TV. I’d seen the book at various used book sales, and decided maybe it would be good, even though neither chemistry nor cooking, nor homemaking themes much interest me. -ABOUT: A young independent woman, Elizabeth, in the 1950’s and 60’s, when independence was still not welcome as a feminine trait. Her efforts to be a chemist are continually thwarted, to the point where she ends up taking the offer she’s received through connections involving her daughter, to host a cooking show, with an emphasis on chemistry. The producers prefer to emphasize her sex-appeal, so while the offer suggested she could employ her knowledge of chemistry, there were strong objections to her methods, so there’s conflict. But the real story goes much deeper. It involves a unique man, a unique dog, and so much more. -OVERALL IMPRESSION: Very touching Very engaging = Loved it! Plus, although the author, Bonnie, tells an interviewer, Pandora, at the end that she knew little about chemistry upon starting this book, the story inspires an interest in chemistry.
AUTHOR: Bonnie Garmus. From Amazon: “Bonnie Jean Garmus (born April 18, 1957 in Riverside, California) is an American author and former copywriter.
Garmus is from Seattle.[1] She has worked as a copywriter and creative director in the US, and has lived in Switzerland and Colombia.[1]
In April 2022, her debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was published.[2] The Guardian noted its "polished, funny, thought-provoking story ... it's hard to believe it's a debut".[2] The New York Times commented on its "entertaining subplots and witty dialogue".[3] Olimpia Mamula Steiner, a professor of chemistry, praised the book profusely:
Once you start it will be difficult to put down, as soon as you finish a chapter you immediately want to read the next one, it's almost addictive.[4]
As of January 2022, Lessons in Chemistry had been sold into 35 territories and has a television adaptation in production at Apple TV starring Brie Larson.[5] Éditions Robert Laffont published in May 2022 a French translation under the title La Brillante destinée d'Elizabeth Zott.[6] The book was shortlisted for the 2023 RSL Christopher Bland Prize.[7]
Garmus is married, with two daughters, and lives in London.[1] She enjoys open water swimming and has rowed competitively.[1]”
--Oh look! In Wikipedia, there’s a picture of her with a greyhound dog! Now I like her even more. ( )
I am slightly conflicted over Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. There were some aspects of the book that I loved, while there were others that I definitely didn’t. This debut novel tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, who becomes a celebrated cooking show host in 1960s Southern California. Although she considers herself to be a scientist who specializes in chemistry, the world at that time liked to place women in the role of housewives and mothers.
I had some difficulty warming to Elizabeth as I found her to be too obtuse and stubborn in how she presented herself and perhaps too exceptional to be relatable. In her constant bid to use the power of science to bring about changes she had the tendency to plow over everyone. The story became quite repetitive and I was constantly hoping to see the discrimination and sexual abuse addressed a little more seriously than it was.
On the other hand, Lessons in Chemistry is very witty and intelligent. It paints an interesting picture of the early days of affirmative action when societal norms desperately needed an overhaul. The author also wisely supplies some very endearing secondary characters like Calvin, Harriet, Madeline and especially the lovable dog, Six-Thirty. So mixed reaction but overall an absorbing and interesting read. ( )
Lessons in Chemistry is a timely lesson in dealing with the indignation of injustice. Through Elizabeth’s eccentric story—where half the time you’re incensed on her behalf as a female scientist in the 1950s and ‘60s and the other half you’re laughing at the dark, deadpan humor—we learn how to deal with broken systems without becoming broken victims. It’s really a beautiful, zany story about life: challenge and change and courage and chemistry.
This book is everything. Reading it felt like an amalgamation of watching a Wes Anderson film and reading Fredrik Backman’s “Anxious People,” while also being completely original and organic. I laughed; I cried; I felt a gamut of emotions: caustic ire, sorrow, protectiveness, joy, hope. It’s all here—all the properties needed for the best kind of chemical reaction: a perfect read.
Read on audio. A very popular book that was getting all the buzz in the last year, as well as a series on Apple. Set in the late 50's, Elizabeth Zott is a highly intelligent woman, who has to deal with the misogyny of the times. She's expelled from a doctoral program because she was a victim of assault by her advisor, she gets a lab tech job, but when her famous chemist boyfriend passes away, she's fired as being because she's going to be an unwed mother. Through circumstances she becomes a famous host of a cooking show, despite all the push backs of her male superiors. And in the end, because it makes perfect sense 😁, she leaves her cooking show to go back triumphantly to her life as a research chemist and all is figuratively right with the world. A very good read. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
For my mother, Mary Swallow Garmus
Eerste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving a second thought; back before anyone knew there’d even be a sixties movement, much less one that it’s participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling: back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year-old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was over.
Citaten
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
"Look," he said, "life has never been fair, and yet you continue to operate as if it is—as if once you get a few wrongs straightened out, everything else will fall into place. They won't. You want my advice?" And before she could say no, he added, "Don't work the system. Outsmart it."
If relationships are a puzzle, then theirs was solved from the get-go—as if someone shook out the box and watched from above as each separate piece landed exactly right, slipping one into the other, fully interlocked, into a picture that made perfect sense. They made other couples sick.
Thus the topic of family was like a cordoned-off room on a historic home tour.
"Call it a family tradition. Dying in accidents."
"No, I mean, was she also very religious?" Elizabeth hesitated. "Only if you count greed as a religion."
"People like my father preach love but are filled with hate."
"When I was a kid," Calvin said quietly, "I used to tell myself every day was new. That anything could happen."
Last week she'd peeked in on Mad during naptime and found the child sitting up in her crib explaining something in earnest to Six-Thirty. Elizabeth had hung back, watching in wonder as the baby, wobbling back and forth like a bowling pin threatening to topple, waved her hands as she chattered a steady stream of consonants and vowels strung together haphazardly, like laundry on a line, but delivered with the kind of passion that made it clear she was an expert in this area.
Having a baby, Elizabeth realized, was a little like living with a visitor from a distant planet. There was a certain amount of give and take as the visitor learned your ways and you learned theirs, but gradually their ways faded and your ways stuck. Which she found regrettable. Because unlike adults, her visitor never tired of even the smallest discovery; always saw the magic in the ordinary.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask: Why do you think so many people believe in texts written thousands of years ago? And why does it seem the more supernatural, unprovable, improbable, and ancient the source of these texts, the more people believe them?"
The room filled with a thick silence, the weight of her ridiculous dream hanging like too-wet laundry on a windless day.
"He not only knew I belonged, he also knew I was onto something. The truth is, he stole my research. Published it and passed it off as his own." Roth's eyes widened. "I quit the same day." "Why didn't you tell the publication?" he said. "Why didn't you demand credit?" Elizabeth looked at Roth as if he lived on some other planet.
"Imagine if all men took women seriously. Education would change. The workforce would revolutionize. Marriage counselors would go out of business."
"When women understand these basic concepts, they can begin to see the false limits that have been created for them." "You mean by men." "I mean by artificial cultural and religious policies that put men in the highly unnatural role of single-sex leadership."
"I agree that society leaves much to be desired, but when it comes to religion, I tend to think it humbles us—teaches us our place in the world." "Really?" she said, surprised. "I think it lets us off the hook. I think it teaches us that nothing is really our fault; that something or someone else is pulling the strings; that ultimately, we're not to blame for the way things are; that to improve things, we should pray. But the truth is, we are very much responsible for the badness in the world. And we have the power to fix it." "But surely you're not suggesting that humans can fix the universe." "I'm speaking of fixing us, Mr. Roth—our mistakes. Nature works on a higher intellectual plane. We can learn more, we can go further, but to accomplish this, we must throw open the doors. Too many brilliant minds are kept from scientific research thanks to ignorant biases like gender and race. It infuriates me and it should infuriate you. Science has big problems to solve: famine, disease, extinction. And those who purposefully close the door to others using self-serving, outdated cultural notions are not only dishonest, they're knowingly lazy."
Laatste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with, of all things, her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
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Google Books — Bezig met laden...
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BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS -PRINT: © April 5, 2022; 978-0385547345; Doubleday; First Edition; 400 pages; Unabridged (Information for Hardback from Amazon)
-DIGITAL: © April 5, 2022; 038554734X; Doubleday; 394 pages; Unabridged (Kindle information from Amazon)
- *Audio: © 5 April 2022 Random House Audio / Books on Tape; 12 hours (approx..); unabridged (Audiobook information from the version on the Libby App.)
-FILM: Available on Apple TV, starring Brie Larson; Lewis Pullman; Stephanie Koenig; Patrick Walker
CHARACTERS: (not comprehensive- spellings could be wrong since I'm hearing the names, not reading them. Brief description from character’s first entry into story.)
Elizabeth Zott – Protagonist – Chemist at Hastings
Calvin Evans – Chemist at Hastings
Madeline (Mad) Zott – Daughter of Elizabeth
Harriet Sloan – Neighbor of Elizabeth
Six-Thirty – Dog that follows Elizabeth home
Fran Frask – Hasting’s employee
Mr. Wakely – Calvan’s pen-pal
Walter Pine – TV Producer
Mr. Wilson – All Saint’s Orphanage donator
Doctor Mason – Obstetrician, rowing mate
Avery Parker – All Saint’s Orphanage Donator
Mr. Denadie (sp?) – Elizabeth and Evan’s Supervisor at Hastings
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
-SELECTED: This popped up in a Libby advertisement as having been produced for film by Apple TV. I’d seen the book at various used book sales, and decided maybe it would be good, even though neither chemistry nor cooking, nor homemaking themes much interest me.
-ABOUT: A young independent woman, Elizabeth, in the 1950’s and 60’s, when independence was still not welcome as a feminine trait. Her efforts to be a chemist are continually thwarted, to the point where she ends up taking the offer she’s received through connections involving her daughter, to host a cooking show, with an emphasis on chemistry. The producers prefer to emphasize her sex-appeal, so while the offer suggested she could employ her knowledge of chemistry, there were strong objections to her methods, so there’s conflict. But the real story goes much deeper. It involves a unique man, a unique dog, and so much more.
-OVERALL IMPRESSION: Very touching Very engaging = Loved it! Plus, although the author, Bonnie, tells an interviewer, Pandora, at the end that she knew little about chemistry upon starting this book, the story inspires an interest in chemistry.
AUTHOR: Bonnie Garmus. From Amazon:
“Bonnie Jean Garmus (born April 18, 1957 in Riverside, California) is an American author and former copywriter.
Garmus is from Seattle.[1] She has worked as a copywriter and creative director in the US, and has lived in Switzerland and Colombia.[1]
In April 2022, her debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was published.[2] The Guardian noted its "polished, funny, thought-provoking story ... it's hard to believe it's a debut".[2] The New York Times commented on its "entertaining subplots and witty dialogue".[3] Olimpia Mamula Steiner, a professor of chemistry, praised the book profusely:
Once you start it will be difficult to put down, as soon as you finish a chapter you immediately want to read the next one, it's almost addictive.[4]
As of January 2022, Lessons in Chemistry had been sold into 35 territories and has a television adaptation in production at Apple TV starring Brie Larson.[5] Éditions Robert Laffont published in May 2022 a French translation under the title La Brillante destinée d'Elizabeth Zott.[6] The book was shortlisted for the 2023 RSL Christopher Bland Prize.[7]
Garmus is married, with two daughters, and lives in London.[1] She enjoys open water swimming and has rowed competitively.[1]”
--Oh look! In Wikipedia, there’s a picture of her with a greyhound dog! Now I like her even more. (