Link for non-members to read the entire review

Name of the Book: Lessons in Chemistry

Author: Bonnie Garmus

Recommend: Yes. Highly Recommend

I don’t like books that are hyped up. If everyone who reads them, marks them as a 5-star and has nothing but good things to say about it, it is a turn-off for me.

I, however, am on a quest to expand my reading. To read books by new (to me) authors or in genres I have never read before. So added this to my TBR. I placed this book on hold in the library where it took 67 weeks to get to me. That’s how hyped up it was. Twice I postponed the hold. The 3rd and final time, I forced myself to accept the book and be true to my quest.

I devoured this book. It was very different from what I imagined. I had to stop about 30% in and recalibrate my thoughts and expectations so I could truly enjoy it.

At its core, this book is a story about a woman scientist, a chemist to be precise, set in the 1950s to 1960s. An era where women were not welcomed as scientists or really in any profession outside of the home. Through her life, it tells us stories, it provides lessons, and in the end is a story of life itself. While all this sounds dry and boring, the book is anything but. Written with a definite wit and with supreme intelligence, it is literally a book that stands alone. The story really is punctuated with sad events (it does have a happier ending), but its writing elevates it to a place where you root for the protagonist and fall in love with her and…