Bookworm in the City

No. 6 – A book that was made into a movie

Lessons in chemistry / Bonnie Garmus

Okay, so this book wasn’t made into a movie, but a drama series (streaming on Apple TV in the NL), so I’m taking some flexibility for this entry, but trust me, it’s worth it.
I had my eye on this book for a long time, but because the word chemistry is in the title, and from the description I learned it’s about a scientist, and my brain starts to short-circuit whenever science is involved, I didn’t buy it until I found it with a “second book half-price” sticker on it. Mostly, because this meant I got to buy another book as well, but still.
Picture my surprise when I learned that yes, this book is about chemistry, but it’s about so much more! Because main character Elizabeth Zott is a kick-ass lady, who has the unfortunate timing of being a scientist in 1950’s America. She gets belittled, discriminated, undermined, and harassed, on a daily basis. The fact that she’s smarter than any of the men in her lab, doesn’t help.
The only person who is interested in her intellect, is oblivious to her daily struggles, and women’s struggles in general, and is surprised to learn that women would actually like to study and work in STEM, but are held back by the men that rule the field. Calvin Evans is the male version of Elizabeth, and despite his young age, has been up for a Nobel prize multiple times, and his fame and wunderkind status provides the institute they both work at, with generous funding.
Calvin and Elizabeth are in a relationship that is considered unconventional and strange, and therefore frowned upon: they live together, and despite his proposals, Elizabeth refuses to marry Calvin, not wanting to be forced to quit working, changing her name, and getting stuck in the background, only to be known as the supporter of her husband. Elizabeth doesn’t even consider herself to be modern, to her this is just common sense.
Elizabeth teaches Calvin that anything a man can do, a woman can too, and Calvin uses this theory to teach Elizabeth to row. Calvin considers rowing the ultimate sport, but Elizabeth isn’t an athlete and it isn’t until she applies science to rowing that they stop toppling over.
They find a dog and adopt it, and give it the wonderful name of Six-Thirty, because that was the time they came home with him. Of course, this leads to a running gag of people confusing the name with the time, and subsequent dead-pan responses from Calvin and Elizabeth. But Six-Thirty is as smart as they are, and his observations are a great addition to the story.
When Elizabeth suffers a major loss, she has to pivot to keep afloat. She does what she has to, and if that means going on television and presenting a cooking show, so be it. Elizabeth can cook and bake really well because she applies science to it, as she does to anything in life. She refuses to present a “fun” show though, rationalizing it’s not just demeaning to her, but to the women watching, and makes her director faint when during the first show she invites the audience to come down to the stage and take anything from the carefully designed set they like. Within minutes the set is near-empty and Elizabeth has the clean work surface she asked for.
She uses the scientific names of products, acetic acid instead of vinegar and sodium chloride instead of salt, and to the director’s amazement viewers don’t seem to mind that the cooking show turns into chemistry lessons. The show becomes a success locally first, and soon nationally as well. Elizabeth learns a hard lesson herself, when she discovers that despite everything, her fame is considered different from Calvin’s, and she still cannot get a decent job at any lab.

Belittling, shaming, discriminating, harassing, is still happening today as well of course. In any field, to anybody who is different from the majority. It’s scary and it’s frustrating. This book is about all that, and probably should come with trigger warnings for harassment and assault, because the book contains plenty of incidents, and horrible people that make life ever so complicated and painful.
Elizabeth’s frustration seeps off the pages, and you have to be made of stone not to get frustrated on her behalf. The way she is treated is horrific. The fact that victim blaming happened back then, is ridiculous. The fact that victim blaming is still happening today, is downright shameful.
But this story isn’t just about the injustice Elizabeth encounters, Calvin, and chemistry though. It’s about family, acceptance, support, and mostly, love.
The story has wonderful side characters in neighbour Harriet, Mad, doctor Mason, and director Walter. It’s not only Elizabeth that needs these people in her life, but as a reader, you need them too, in order not to forget that there are generous, caring, and wonderful people in the world.
And don’t think this book is all doom and disaster; it’s clever and funny and a treat to read!