"Lessons In Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus

[MsAmerica]

I could have sworn that I'd posted about this, but apparently not - or at least my search isn't coming up with anything.

I don't usually read contemporary fiction, but a friend - from whom I don't usually take book recommendations - loved Lessons In Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus, and when I ran across it at the library, I picked it up. And it's rare that I actually laugh out loud at books, but when I laughed twice in the first ten pages, it was a sign of something a cut above the norm.

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677234/lessons-in-chemistry-by-bonnie-garmus/

And now I was just reading this article about it.

Beneath its pink cover, 'Lessons in Chemistry' offers a story about power
By Sadie Stein

“Lessons in Chemistry” is a book that defies easy categorization and which, depending on which of its suitors had won, or which direction the winning house had decided to take, might have gone a number of ways. For the same reason, it appeals to a range of readers.

www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/books/bonnie-garmus-lessons-chemistry-book.html

artdaily.com/news/151811/Beneath-its-pink-cover---Lessons-in-Chemistry--offers-a-story-about-power#.Y4Pt9C-B3rA

I have had this highly recommended by a friend so just waiting for it to come out in paperback next march. Good to have the recommendation confirmed :)

I really enjoyed it - found it both witty and moving and thoroughly readable.

I was confused by the 'pink cover' headline, I much prefer the UK cover to the (pink) US one. Which then led me down a wormhole comparing novel covers in the US and UK.

I've not read Lessons in Chemistry yet but it's been popular on the 50 Booker threads.

I enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry too. The author has said (on Goodreads I think) that she wasn't entirely happy with the pink cover.

SPOILER ALERT:

I’m enjoying it. It is funny and I’m enjoying the triumphing over those who wronged the protagonist aspect of it. But you do need to put aside your resistance to the implausibilities (gifted child, dog etc) and I did think the graphic description of the violent sexual assault early on was gratuitous.

I'm not sure I'd consider this a romance, as it seems to be described, but if it is - isn't almost all romance based on implausibles?

I'm half way through this for my book club and very much enjoying it. Funny and well-written.

I was niggling away with myself trying to think of who the ideas and to some extent the writing style reminded me of: John Irving. The dog, sport, intellectually precocious child, the loner syndrome, the woman up against it.

I picked this up a couple of days ago and, like you, laughed at the witty writing from the beginning. The cover looks too chick lit to me and ordinarily I wouldn't have been drawn to it. My purchase was based on recommendations.

I agree that the US cover is awful and misleading. I probably wouldn't have read it if I'd seen it in a bookshop. Luckily, I saw it recommended here (much more reliable!) and loved it.

It reminded me of John Irving too. More and more books do. The long pre-amble of everyone’s history before we get to the plot is in loads of things I’ve read recently (this one too? Apologies as I read it in the summer) and always reminds me of John Irving.

But yes swap rowing for wrestling and we are in full Irving mode.

I just read this as my first book of the year. I really enjoyed it, couldn't put it down. I loved Elizabeth, and there were a few moments where I laughed out loud.

This is next on my to read list, DP bought me a copy for Christmas. It was recommended to him by someone else as a book I'd enjoy.

I don't think I would have picked it up myself but have since heard lots of good reviews and it's great to see it recommended here too! I'm looking forward to starting it in the next couple of days.

It was fun but very much a wish-fulfilment book. You know, like the West Wing where everything is amazing and the good and clever people are rewarded and the bad people suffer… that sort of thing. (I absolutely love the West Wing for that reason)

I definitely understand the comparison with John Irving, it’s chock full of whimsy.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Elizabeth was great. However, it was definitely a “wouldn’t it be nice if the world was like this” rather than grounded in reality.

A lovely modern feminist fairy tale.

I enjoyed it.

Agree the sexual violence was a bit much and not in keeping.

I really enjoyed it and so did everyone I know who read it.

Despite the many implausible parts, I think most women can relate to it

I found it really dull and had to force myself to finish it.

Really enjoyed it.

2022 was a bit of a struggle to find the elusive books that were moving...but not depressing, funny...but not cliched, heavyweight...but not self-consciously high brow.

Books that others raved about (American Dust; Midnight Library; Hamnet; Where the Crawdads.. etc) I just couldn't get on with.
So many books seemed to be deliberately mawkish or set out to shock with violence or tragedy but without characterisation or plot to offset it.

I’m a third of the way through and the whimsy is starting to grate. I don’t think I’m going to finish it.

I got halfway through and gave up. Witty but weird.

I really enjoyed it but agree with previous comments about the graphic descriptions and the gifted dog/child. I'm a chemist and really liked all the chemistry stuff.

I loved it too. Not least because my husband is a rower 😁.

I’m reading it now. Not keen. Too much chick lit for my liking but it was a present so should just read it and get it out of the way to be polite and not ungrateful. I’m a fussy reader though.

The further into I read the more I liked it. Ended up loving it.

Just finished and loved it. Got angry about the similarities in the way women were treated at work in the fifties/sixties to my experience in the eighties.

I had no problem with the whimsical side, it's kind of a welcome escape at the moment!

ADORED this book and didn’t want it to end.
Loved the whimsical side, added to the humour.
Second book of the year, a hard act to follow.