Week 6: Romance Annotation

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Genre: Romance 

Publication Date: 2022 

Number of Pages: 400  

Geographical Setting: Southern California 

Time Period: 1960s 

Series: N/A 

Plot Summary: 

    Elizabeth Zott is many things: chemist, chef, rower, mother, and TV personality, just to name a few. After meeting Calvin Evans, the love of her life, at Hastings Research Institute, she finds that life can change as instantly as a chemical reaction. After a sudden tragedy, Elizabeth finds herself not only the mother to a precocious young girl, but also the star of the nation’s most popular and unexpected cooking show, Supper at Six. Determined to teach the housewives watching that they are capable of whatever they set their minds to, she quickly gains a loyal following. Not everyone is pleased with Elizabeth’s popularity, but that is nothing new to Elizabeth, who has had to fight for respect in every step of her life, except for when she was with Calvin Evans. Fast-paced and witty, this book features a delightful cast of characters who are all interconnected and keep coming around like planets in Elizabeth’s orbit. 

Subject Headings: 

Historical Fiction 

Romantic comedy 

Female scientists 

Midcentury 

 

Appeal: 

Character: Elizabeth Zott is a female scientist during a time when many women did not work outside the home, let alone in male dominated fields. Readers who enjoy books about female scientists or women in other unexpected roles will find this perspective refreshing. 

Relationships: relationships are central to this story. Elizabeth is a complex character with a storied background, as is her lover, Calvin Evans. Both are fully formed individuals when they meet, and their lives are influenced by the cast of characters within them. In the end, all our characters are only a few degrees of separation from each other, and every story is interconnected and related to another. 

Storyline: the book is told primarily from Elizabeth’s point of view, but it often handed off to other characters- her lover, her friend, her daughter, even her dog- to give outside perspective on what Elizabeth is feeling or to give behind the scenes details about something the main character may not know about. 

3 terms that best describe this book: clever, uplifting, historical fiction 

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors 

Atomic Women: The Untold Stories of the Scientists Who Helped Create the Nuclear Bomb- Roseanne Montillo   

    This book is a narrative nonfiction that illuminates even more untold stories from women in science during the middle of the 20th century.  

Julie and Julia- Julie Powell 

    One of the originators of the TV chef personality, Julia Child is a name still known to this day. Enter “the Julie/Julia project,” and read Julie Powell’s hilarious story of recreating the famous chef’s recipes in her tiny New York City apartment. 

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boy’s Club- Eileen Pollack 

    Pollack was one of the first 2 women to receive a Bachelor of Science in Physics and yet she left science to become a writer due to years of gender discrimination, stereotyping, and isolation. This book differs from others in that Pollack shares her personal experience along with the research and statistics to show that we still have a long way to go before some in STEM are taken seriously. 

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors 

 

The Atomic Weight of Love- Elizabeth J. Church 

    This novel follows a young ornithologist as she grapples with science, marriage, and missed connections. Set in the same mid-century time-period, readers will follow along as the main character is bound by and then freed from the gender expectations of the time, both within and outside of the scientific community. 

Where’d You Go, Bernadette- Maria Semple 

    A popular book to movie title, this story follows once renowned architect Bernadette Fox on an adventure to the end of the earth to find herself. Readers may both laugh and cry as they find out why Bernadette became so reclusive and why is she just now making a change.  

Good Taste- Caroline Scott 

    This book follows author Stella Douglas as she sets out across England to write about the history of English food despite the fact that English cuisine is quite terrible. Readers will enjoy this book because it features more foodie discussion, a hint of romance, and at its core, a woman ahead of her time.