Lessons in Chemistry: The No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller (2022)
- Auteur: Bonnie Garmus
- Editeur: Transworld Digital (5 avril 2022)
- Pages: 392 pages
- Langue: Français
Description du livre Lessons in Chemistry: The No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller (2022):
THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE
OBSERVER'S 'TEN DEBUT NOVELISTS OF 2022'
A STEVE WRIGHT BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB CHOICE
'Sparky, rip-roaring, funny, with big-hearted fully formed, loveable characters'SUNDAY TIMES
'The most charming, life-enhancing novel I've read in ages. Strongly recommend' INDIA KNIGHT
'Laugh-out-loud funny and brimming with life, generosity and courage' RACHEL JOYCE
'A novel that sparks joy with every page' ELIZABETH DAY
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Your ability to change everything - including yourself - starts here
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.
But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.
Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
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SOON TO BE A MAJOR APPLE TV SERIAL, STARRING BRIE LARSON
'I loved Lessons in Chemistry and am devastated to have finished it!' NIGELLA LAWSON
'Elizabeth Zott is an iconic heroine - a feminist who refuses to be quashed, a mother who believes that her child is a person to behold, rather than to mould, and who will leave you, and the lens through which you see the world, quite changed' PANDORA SYKES
'It's the world versus Elizabeth Zott, and I had no trouble choosing a side. A page-turning and highly satisfying tale: zippy, zesty, and Zotty' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD, author of GREAT CIRCLE
Commentaires
I want to start this review by saying that I thought that I had read some amazing books already this year, ones that I had given 5 stars, I was wrong, having now read this stunner of a book. My 5 star reads from this point forward will all be measured on this book - this is my 5 star barometer!!
Elizabeth Zott is a Chemist in the 1960’s, the only problem is that everyone else sees her as everything but that! Her male colleagues won’t take her seriously and see her as nothing but a woman who has ideas above her station. Although they are all threatened by her greatness and are more than happy to steal her work. All apart from Calvin Evans who is also a chemist and known for his greatness in the field of science. Calvin never looks down on Elizabeth and they start a relationship that would have beautifully stood the test of time.
Unfortunately life doesn’t always go to plan and Elizabeth finds herself alone and as a single mother. She finds herself presenting a tv show called Supper at Six, she uses this as her platform to give ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ to the women of America who she knows are meant to be doing greater things than being typecast as a wife and mother - she empowers them to do great things with their lives.
From the first to the very last word of this book I was hooked. Elizabeth Zott is an absolute legend of a main character, I was rooting for her throughout the whole story. This book is fiction, but it had me pondering on more than one occasion what it must have been like to be a woman at this time, I’m so glad that women like Elizabeth Zott make it possible for me to have the life and freedom that I have today.
Elizabeth is a very serious character, a bit like her story but it is told with comedic moments that did have me laughing out loud, especially how her daughter Mad got her name. She is such an endearing leading lady that you would love to have someone like her stood in your corner as your mother, aunt, sibling or best friend.
If you’re after a book that will leave your heart full, then look no further than this absolute masterpiece of a debut from Bonnie Garmus.
5/5