Lessons in Chemistry

Finished May 28

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

I started this book months ago but kept setting it aside as it is so good I didn't want it to end. The ending is satisfying though, so I feel good about finishing it now. The novel takes place in the early 1960s in small town southern California, but the story reaches back further. While it starts with an incident in 1961 that has Elizabeth meeting Walter Pine and thus setting off a new career in television for her, we quickly jump back ten years earlier when Elizabeth Zott, a chemist at Hastings Research Institute met Calvin Evans, one of the head research chemists there. 

Seeing how the two met gives an insight into how chemistry both in the scientific sense and in the sense of human attraction is at play here. Elizabeth is a feminist because she's had to be to get as far as she has, dealing with multiple barriers along the way. 

We see her dysfunctional childhood, the loneliness of her life, and her drive for science. As we get to know Calvin, we find he has also had a difficult childhood and has had to make his own way through similar efforts to those of Elizabeth. However, because he is a man, one he proved his intelligence, it all became much easier. 

As they grow closer, we see how in some ways he makes things easier for Elizabeth, supporting her research, ensuring she has the supplies she needs, and in others making things harder because now she has been labelled as a woman who is sleeping her way to job success. 

When things go wrong and Elizabeth is left to fend for herself as a single mother and she struggles to support herself, her daughter Amelia, and their dog Six-Thirty. Six-Thirty had found Elizabeth and claimed her and they bonded quickly. 

There is so much in this book: love and loss; the fight for sexual equality, the subtle acts that work away at a person just trying to live their life. I loved this book so much. 

Ms. Demeanor

Finished April 14

Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman

This fun novel is set in New York City. Jane Morgan is a lawyer with a large firm. One day she meets an intern from her firm at the market and the two go back to her place. They hang out on the roof and get a bit frisky. Unfortunately for Jane, a woman at a neighbouring building calls the police to complain, and they end up being charged with public nudity. In court, the man is given a small fine, and Jane is given a fine, six months home confinement and has her license suspended. She is angry, embarrassed, and devastated. even more so when no one at her firm contacts her to offer support. 

Her support comes from her twin sister Jackleen, a dermatologist. She gives Jane money for groceries and encourages her to make cooking videos, trying to tie in to health for her own practice. Jane had often made meals when they were growing up and enjoys experimenting, especially when the annotated cookbook of an deceased relative makes its way into her hands. She finds herself investigating other old cookbooks, and focusing on both comfort food and odd, yet simple dishes from the past. 

When one of the doormen in her building lets her know there is someone else on home confinement in the building who orders in all his meals, she decides to reach out by hand delivering a meal to his apartment. 

Perry Salisbury worked as an art handler for a prestigious auction house when he made an impulsive and stupid decision that resulted in his current circumstance. He isn't hurting for money, and ends up making a contract with Jane to deliver a few meals each week to his place. As their business relationship develops into a friendship, Perry makes a wild suggestion of his own, and Jane finds herself agreeing. 

This is a fun and lighthearted read about two people who made impulsive decisions that resulted in big setbacks in each of their lives, and they now have to find a way to evaluate how they move forward. Jane has to apply to get her license reinstated and find a new position if she wants to continue as a lawyer. Perry has to restart his career in the art world with a big stigma if he wants to do what he is both good at and enjoys. I liked both characters, particularly Jane's sense of humour. A fun read.