by Bonnie Garmus
Overall: I loved this book! Elizabeth Zott is determined to work in her chosen field of chemistry in the 1950s despite the opposition of nearly everyone she encounters. She has no interest in falling in love or having a family, but when she and famous scientist Calvin Evans end up in the same lab, her plans go out the window. This is a funny fairy tale of a book that balances sweetness and whimsy with acid notes of realism about women’s place in American society during this era.
Likes: I loved the quirky characters (especially Elizabeth, her dog Six Thirty, and her neighbor Harriet). I also loved the arch, witty, and at times sarcastic tone of the narration. Elizabeth and her peers face near-universal sexism and misogyny but she somehow manages to rise above it and maintain her faith in herself. At times I laughed out loud; other paragraphs found me nodding along to one of Elizabeth’s no-holds-barred pro-woman outbursts.
Dislikes: Really nothing.
FYI: there are a couple of brief but graphic scenes of sexual assault.
Liz Helfrich 