Books Lessons in Chemistry

Read online Lessons in Chemistry.pdf PDF, EPUB, MOBI, TXT, DOC Lessons in Chemistry Feminist comedy chick lit?I’d heard conflicting opinions and had determined this wasn’t for me. But several friends assured me I’d enjoy it, and it’s currently 53% at 5* and less than 1% at 1* on GR. The first page was good! It conjured women’s limited choices of 1961 in a wry way that I liked:“Before anyone knew there’d even be a sixties movement… when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible.”The plot had promise, too. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in academia, but is forced out before her doctorate because of the misogyny of the times. When she finds success as a reluctant star of daytime TV, she subverts the genre by making her cooking show about chemistry, not domesticity.ContentThe first half (pre-TV) was OK-ish. The second half was ever more ludicrous, and not really funny or feminist, as it descended to sentimental and largely predictable mush. The whole book is packed with clichés, caricatures, and coincidences, but they’re most egregious in the final chapters. Patriarchy, pencils in the hair (see cover art of some editions), sexual assault, rowing (boats, not arguments), a kindergarten family-tree project, and the corrupting power of money all feature prominently. Image: A mixed pair of rowers: students Jodie Cameron and Ryan Glymond at the 2021 British Championships (Source)On screenIronically, I think this might work better as a sit-com than a book. It has elements of Stepford Wives and Desperate Housewives, with a dash of Edward Scissorhands. A few weeks later, I discovered its being made into a TV series, starring Brie Larson. See imdb here.Brilliant Bunk - plus quirkFive year old Madeline has almost finished reading Dickens and is now reading The Sound and the Fury. I can believe a gifted child could read the words, but I don’t believe any child that young would want to: it’s too far removed from anything they’d understand and care about. The dog, Six-Thirty, is even more advanced (hence, I’ve shelved this as magical-realism). I know dogs are clever and empathetic, but paragraphs of his profound and knowledgeable philosophising on often abstract concepts were just silly. He even had opinions on Proust! Theres lots of self-conscious quirk, some of which fits the period more plausibly than others, and much of it is based on stereotypes played for laughs, rather than realism. Like Elizabeth, my 20-something is a scientist at heart, with a passion for cooking. Theyve extended their skills beyond anything Ive taught them by structured research and experimentation around the chemical reactions involved. But even they wouldnt call salt “sodium chloride” (except perhaps as a one-off joke), let alone vinegar by... whatever the chemical name was Elizabeth used on her TV show. Chemical bondsAttraction, bonding, change - all aspects of chemistry, loudly signposted in this book. Elizabeth is an odd mix of socially inept and effortlessly sexy. She and Calvin Evans both have tragic backstories that leave them conveniently free of family ties, but with an air of mystery that may or may not be revealed: the means are largely unscientific. Also, despite their joint obsessions with science and rowing, they dont really consider the physics of the sport, which is out of character by Bonnie Garmus