Primarily set in the 1950’s, Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott, a chemist who only wants to be taken seriously in her career, but faces an uphill battle due to her gender. After years of struggling, she finds career success in an unlikely source, as the host of a popular cooking show. Zott infuses her show, Supper as Six, with chemistry lessons that in turn, empower her mostly female audience.

Lessons in Chemistry has been an enormously successful book. I’m a bookseller and it has been hard to keep on shelves. It’s a popular book club pick and will soon be turned into a tv mini-series starring Brie Larson. I can now understand the appeal of Lessons in Chemistry. The story is a good blend of humor and heart with a strong feminist theme.

Elizabeth Zott is a complicated character. She is often too hard for her own good and has experienced so much heart break that she has trouble opening up to others. She further complicates relationships with coworkers by taking on a directness regarding her duties and her dreams. She is blunt and what you see, is what you get. This directness both gets her in trouble and allows her to seize opportunities. Elizabeth is conventionally attractive, which makes her a target for men’s attention and jealously of other women, even though Elizabeth doesn’t use this quality to get ahead.

The most interesting dynamic is Elizabeth’s relationship with her daughter, Mad. Mad is incredibly intelligent and inquisitive, but similar to her mother, she struggles in social situations. Elizabeth feels the pain of seeing her daughter experience similar struggles to her own, but also does not want to compromise her daughter’s abilities or dreams. However, we are left feeling that each generation of women will have it a bit better and that Mad’s struggles will not be exactly the same as her mother’s, especially as her mother helped pave the way.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Six-Thirty, the dog. I knew going into the book, that we would get inside Six-Thirty’s head to have the dog’s perspective and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how that would work. I’m an animal lover, but I wasn’t sold on this aspect of the story. It’s actually very sweet and helps move the narrative. We see Elizabeth and Mad through the dog’s eyes, seeing them in ways that they don’t quite see themselves, giving emotional resonance when the characters cannot be emotional themselves. The dog also serves as a protector, which helps set the reader at ease, especially when the characters are in danger.

Overall, I enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry and I can understand all of the positive reviews. I did find sections to be a bit uneven in pacing and tone, but not enough to damper my enjoyment. I think the limited series might be better than the book, or at the very least, I’m excited for the costumes and sets. Stylistically, it should be eye-candy!