The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Spring 2023 Group Read Lessons in Chemistry in the category Popular Book Group Picks. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

Very glad that this was chosen.

Somewhere I had read that it was a humorous book, I found it anything but. Yes, there are scenes that I did laugh at, but for the most part I found it painfully realistically heartbreaking.

I am not a scientist, that is my sister, working with DNA sequences and everything cellular. WAY over my head. I would hate to imagine her enduring the kind of treatment that was deemed so very acceptable back then.

A very bittersweet book that I am glad to have read, and do recommend.

Wow -- I agree with Deborah, excellent choice. I had heard SO much about this book that I almost started to feel like it was overhyped and I wouldn't enjoy it, but I was so wrong. I really enjoyed the book, hated to have it come to an end. I found the characters quirky and compelling, and the depiction of being a woman in a "man's field" was heartbreaking, though not surprising. The way the theme held together even when plot events started to get a little far fetched was impressive!

Also - if anyone is interested, I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator was very good!

Just finished this book and I am glad it lived up to the hype. There was so much I enjoyed about this book: the social commentary, Six-Thirty and his narration, Chris Evans and Elizabeth's relationship, and how it tied up in the end.
While what Elizabeth endured was awful, I found I could not connect with her even though I agree with everything she stood for and fought for in and out of the workplace. I just needed her to have a bit more warmth, perhaps an unpopular opinion. Despite my dislike for Elizabeth, I still gave this book 4.5 stars because I enjoyed the various plots (i.e. Avery Parker never giving up on finding her son) and the relationships between characters (Mad & Wakely, Harriet and Elizabeth, and Six-Thirty and his protectiveness of his family).

I would have thought I would love this book, as it has several themes I like - academic/corporate satire, feminism, found family. But somehow the tone was off for me. The juxtaposition of serious issues of harrassment and discrimination (all too real in science and other fields) with quirky humor didn't really work for me. Maybe the element of the "too smart" girl and woman who never fits in was too close to home, since I also spent elementary school pretending I was learning things. I did love the dog who seems to be a relative of Chet from Dog on It and Enzo from The Art of Racing in the Rain. I gave this book 3 stars, which in my rating means it was good but I won't go out of my way to recommend it.

After reading Lessons in Chemistry, I, unfortunately, was not able to understand the hype surrounding it. Elizabeth Zott's character quickly became redundant and slightly annoying towards the middle of the book. It was hard to like her, in all honesty. Don't get me wrong, I understand that this book was trying to bring awareness to the lack of support for women doing things in the 1960s. However, it was done in a way that was not only in your face but also made me grind my teeth. I don't know if I particularly liked any of the characters in this story, not even the dog! (and normally a dog with an inner dialogue is my favorite).

Although I leave this book slightly disappointed with a 2.5-star rating, I know that it happens and I won't be able to love every book I read. I'm glad this resonated with others, just wish it could have done the same for me

I liked this book so much, I (almost literally) couldn't put it down. I had a job interview and a concert ticket buying task today, but otherwise? I spent today reading this book. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in the late 1950s and early 1960s in this book. She didn't get her PhD because of stupid men acting badly and is faced with more of the same when she enters the workforce. She meets a lovely man and their story bookends this novel, but it's not really much about him at all. It's mainly about Elizabeth, her daughter, their older female neighbor, and all the struggles women had and still have.

My other half is a (male) chemist so I was really looking forward to reading this one. Based on what I know (I'm NOT a chemist) Elizabeth's food chemistry on her TV show is spot-on, and her partner Calvin Evans shares so many traits in common with my dude. I like that love and relationships are a huge central theme in this book but it's not a romance by any means. The dog, Six-Thirty, has an amazing point of view. I really hope to see more by this author.

Michelle in Alaska

I actually went into this book with -only- the limited amount of information I had gleaned from social media about it. I didn't read the GR blurb. Didn't listen to my favorite podcast's covering of this book. Just went right in. I was 100% not expecting what I found. This book didn't sit well with me for a good 50%; the characters are all unrelatable, the format jarring, and the social commentary a little too much. Keep in mind that I enjoy a book with heavy social commentary when I know that's what I am about to get, but having walked into this book thinking it was a cutesy comedy about a scientific woman, I was definitely blindsided, and it was laid on quite thick. At any rate, somewhere around the halfway point, I started to "get" Elizabeth a little more, and I found her more entertaining as a main character. I wanted justice for her and Calvin, and I feel like the book delivered. I really enjoyed the way the book wrapped up, and overall, I gave it 4 stars in the end.

I finished this book, and although I really liked the background and struggle of woman in past time. However, I found that there was quite a lot of repetition in this book. And i found Elizabeth actually quite annoying and stubborn.

In the end I liked the book but not because of the characters

I was excited when I saw this was a Group Reads for Spring. My background is in biochemistry and genetics and I enjoy reading about female scientists in fiction. Reading through some of the reviews, I get the feeling some people think the social commentary was laid on too thick. Maybe. But, while it was possibly on the upper end of awful, a lot of what Elizabeth went through resonated with me. I, thankfully, was in the lab a full generation after the time period in which this book was set. Still, the "don't worry your pretty little head about it" attitudes and willingness to steal ideas and present them as one's (male) own (because who would ever believe a woman could come up with such a groundbreaking idea??) was still in evidence 20-some-odd years ago. Maybe it's different today. I'd like to think so.....

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did an excellent job. Her dead-pan delivery of Elizabeth's often bewildered and unintended zingers was where I found most of the humor in the book.

I didn’t know much about this book before it was chosen as a group read so I pretty much went in blind to it. As a female who spent many years working in a very male-dominated environment (engineering), I am sorry to say that some opinions have not changed and none of what happened was surprising or shocking.
I loved the idea of the “Supper at Six” TV show.
The characters were quirky and unique, though somewhat annoying at times, but the star for me was definitely six-thirty!

I also didn't have much information about the book (I thought maybe it was come kind of of college rom-com) but it was on sale at Chapters and I remembered that it was one of the choices for the group discussion, so I bought it, and I'm really glad I did! There were lots of great characters (my favorite was Six-Thirty, the hyperintelligent dog) and some really funny passages: "Why learn about bonds? Because when you do you will grasp the very foundations of life. Plus, your cakes will rise."

I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

This is a reread for me but I loved it and wanted to read it again. It isn't a book I would have picked up on my own but several book friends of mine who have similar tastes to mine said they were pleasantly surprised so I decided to try it.
I agree with many of you that six- thirty was my favorite character but I also loved Mad. I liked the way the characters came together. I have a sister who was adopted in the 70s and recently found our family so the Parker story made me tear up. The number of forced adoptions that went on back then was too many. I loved Elizabeth's show. It's a book I recommend and will read again.

I thought it was a romcom?? How wrong was I.
I like how the narrative style seem comedic but the story is anything but. At times, I felt like it's gonna be too depressing for me, but I'm glad I powered through. Always love a story about non blood-related family. They're the best.

Also, I'm glad nothing happened to Six-Thirty

I almost feel like I was duped into reading this... It was nothing like I expected.

I agree with most of the other commenters that Six-Thirty was a delightful character, but almost every other aspect in this book irked me. There were so many moments that felt out of character for already-unbelievable characters: Moments of "why would you call her Mrs. [husband name] when you repeatedly said you hated that", sprinkled in with "literally no one would call table salt sodium chloride without pretending to be a smart-ass" and "how many feminist rants and a woman in 1960 go on"...

I'm a housewife, and agree about some of the points raised in the book that alluded to how homemaking is viewed by American society. I don't claim to know how women in 1960 viewed themselves, nor do I claim to have similar struggles as a woman living during that time. I know I exist in a somewhat insular society (by my own choosing), so I don't even really know many of my contemporary homemakers' views on this. Being a housewife is easily a "full time job", even without being a mother yet. However, literally any person I have ever talked to about being a homemaker has told me how awesome they think that is. They love that I'm both willing to sacrifice my time and energy into running a well-oiled machine of a home, and also that my husband is able to provide for the both of us. I've never gotten a comment about how I'm wasting my life or degree to do this. Even if this viewpoint was relevant in 1960, it's not relevant in the 2020s anymore as far as I can tell. Women are basically celebrated no matter what their choice in life is (working/career, motherhood, etc.).

To add to that, I think I am a relatively smart woman. I worked in a predominantly-male field (electrical engineering) before leaving the workforce, often felt like my viewpoint was undermined or belittled because I was a woman, and still I would never talk to someone outside my field with terminology that someone outside my field wouldn't understand. Someone who is so-called good at teaching wouldn't just assume everyone in her audience knows what the chemical formula for vinegar is. It was so frustrating for basically that scenario to come up over and over again... Elizabeth, the main character, was just such a Mary Sue I couldn't stand it. The way she was able to basically master any thing she approached was so beyond unrealistic. Her understanding (finally) how to row after reading a physics book?? That killed me.

NOT TO MENTION, I am a woman of faith. I believe in God, but I also believe in science! The way this author wrote about people who have faith in God was so condescending, at times I almost decided to stop reading out of frustration over it. How can a person of faith rationalize the knowledge of atoms and chemicals with an omnipotent God? Easy! He is omnipotent! He formed a universe in an orderly and logical way that we, humans, would be able to use our rational minds to understand.

All this plus depictions of brutal sexual assaults, I don't that this is a book I could recommend to anyone. It was such a difficult read, not only for the subject matter but the style and characterization developed over the course of the novel.

Easiest 1/5 I've ever given to be honest...

Megan wrote: "I almost feel like I was duped into reading this... It was nothing like I expected.

I agree with most of the other commenters that Six-Thirty was a delightful character, but almost every other as..."

I agree with your complaints about how the tone seemed wrong, and also that nobody that smart would use the technical terms to a general audience. I accepted it as supposedly humorous, but I think the whole thing could have been done better.

I was torn on this book. For the most part I did like it, but I really did not like Elizabeth. Maybe I'm just kind of tired of the overly-literal-female-lead character, but she mostly just annoyed me. I felt like her inability to understand basic social behavior, or that you can't give the formula for vinegar instead of saying vinegar on a tv cooking show, was a little too much. I think that the author could have written her almost exactly the same but toned down a little and her character would have worked better for me.

But at the same time, I liked the story and really adored almost all of the side characters.

In the end I rated it a 3.5, which is pretty high for a book where I didn't like the main character. Haha. But the rest was enjoyable enough that I overall liked it.

Cindy F


I wasn't to sure what to expect from this book when I decided on it for the group read, but I enjoyed it. The way Elizabeth decided to live her life on her own terms and take control as best she could was an inspiration. There were certainly some parts that were a bit unbelievable but the story as a whole was entertaining. Like other comments the story line with Six-Thirty was funny even though a bit out there. Overall a fun read with some thoughts evoked about feminism and workplace treatment of women in the 60's that unfortunately still abound today.

I loved this book! A store employee at a book store convinced to buy it, so I did--and was glad to have motivation to crack it open.

I enjoyed the characters a lot, and kind of got some Britt Marie Starts Over or Eleanor Oliphant vibes from Elizabeth's character. I enjoyed the quotable lines laced throughout the story of "lessons in life." I loved Six Thirty.

Rated it 4/5. The only reason that I did not give it a fifth star was I did feel like it went just a *little* too long. Not that I felt the story was drawn out--I'm not quite sure how it could have been shortened. But, towards the end I found myself getting a little restless and ready for the reveal.

Bait and Switch is how I felt after starting it. I, too, didn't look into this book before reading it except knowing that it was getting hyped with "good" reviews. I low-key hated it and struggled to get through it. The social commentary was in your face the entire time, the characters unrelatable and unlikeable, the interconnected characters/relationships felt forced. My daughter started reading it before I did and quit at the accident. I thought the book got better after that but it took me almost 3 weeks to finish this because I could only tolerate a little bit at a time. I did give this book 3 stars but really only wanted to give it a 2. Edited: I went back and changed it to 2 stars.

I enjoyed this one - yes, some of Elizabeth and Mad's skills were over-played, but overall the message of being true to yourself, not belittling other people's choices and acting with integrity were well made. I enjoyed the humour of the various characters clashing beliefs, and of course loved Six-Thirty!

READ 60 20.10 Group Read Lessons in Chemistry

Not normally a book I would pick to read but people at book club were talking about it. I found it easy to read and absolutely loved six-thirty. The story was a bit over the top . I admired Eliabeths' be true to your goals and beliefs but also thought that she was almost obsessive about it. Elizabeth's no tolerance of anyone else's feelings and beliefs was however a demonstration of how truly selfish she was. My way or the highway.

I didn't know what to expect going in to this book but I am glad I chose this one to read for the Group read. There were many things I liked about this book. I loved the theme, the characters, the struggles. I felt it was real life struggles for the time period and some of it even still today. It was wrapped up with some over the top nonsense that brought in a bit of comedic relief for me. I really enjoyed Elizabeth, she reminded me of a female version of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory but with more of a mission to change the status of woman then just proving she was smart. I really did enjoy the read.

oh and my favorite character was for sure Sixthirty. Loved him!

Despite the many scathing reviews, I loved this book. It was a fun and entertaining read, with some serious social commentary.

I agree it was not a realistic portrayal, but it was its exaggerated over the top approach to Elizabeth's personality which made it entertaining. I don't feel a character needs to be believable or realistic to be entertaining and funny.

Honestly I couldn't put it down, which to me is the highest compliment I can pay to a book

Kathy KS

4.5 *, which is unusual for me!

On the back cover of this novel, Rachel Yoder included this in her brief review: "... a story for all the smart girls who refuse to dumb themselves down despite a culture that demands otherwise." I couldn't have said it better myself. I had, at first, figured that this was just another cute modern romance story. Although there's definitely a love story or two running through this one, it's definitely not one in a traditional way. And it takes place in the 1950-60s!

Elizabeth Zott is not always an easy-to-take character, but I could sooo understand her frustrations and thank all the women of her era that fought the good fight to pave the way for the next generations. There's, obviously, a lot of work to be done to achieve true equity between the sexes, but it's definitely improved some. I found the book engaging and inspirational.

My only issue with the book is the portrayal of Six-Thirty, the dog "adopted" by Elizabeth and Calvin. His thoughts just seemed unlikely, quite frankly. Six-Thirty is an extremely loyal dog that loves his people, but I'm not convinced dogs can develop the insights expressed here. I often enjoyed reading them, but it seemed to distract me because it was the part of the plotting that just didn't feel right.

Recommended highly for all readers, male and female; but, especially, for women that sometimes feel pigeon-holed into a role contrary to their own preferences or who have suffered for standing up to bullies. Read for the Seasonal Reading Challenge as a group read of book discussion group books. This title includes much that would lead to some great discussions!

Kathy KS wrote: "Kathy KS

4.5 *, which is unusual for me!

On the back cover of this novel, Rachel Yoder included this in her brief review: "... a story for all the smart girls who refuse to dumb themselves down d..."


Very interesting, I had many thoughts about how Elizabeth's life and her show were "unrealistic" but absolutely no problem with the thinking dog!