LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY BY BONNIE GARMUS
MINI REVIEW & A LITTLE OPINION
Every book club I know is reading or has read this, and with good reason — It’s snappy and validating
Everyone loves an underdog, but when you’re delegated to that kennel merely because of your gender … well, we’ve all come a long way since then. I hope.
This is the one set in the 60’s about Elizabeth Zott who is ousted from her preferred career as a chemist and falls into starring in an unorthodox cooking show, where she does more than make pot roast —she helps women show up for their lives.
Aside from being a fantastic read, I am loving this novel’s success for two reasons, I love the story it tells on sex & age.
THE LITTLE OPINION:
SEX: I work on live, music TV specials where the powerhouses who make things happen in my sphere are mostly women.
We have our roles because some stellar women before us inspired some forward-thinking men to give us a shot back in the 70’s - 90’s, and we haven’t let them down yet.
Although occasionally we run across some old-school fart who sees women at the table, sits back, spreads his knees and starts man-splaining to us something we’ve been doing for twenty years. For the sake of the working relationship, we let him carry on, and hope he’s smart enough to eventually realize we know what we’re doing —even if he’ll never admit it.
But on another level, in recent years we’ve worked to include more women on our technical crews and while they’re mostly welcomed, we’ve had few surprises. Hearing tales of how men we thought we knew shouldered the new woman colleague out of the group – something we assumed we were beyond.
All we can say is, they better get used women being there.
AGE: this book smashes thE ageism BARRIER.
Bonnie Garmus is a debut novelist at 64 and I love that she’s shared this success comes on the heels of 98 rejections of her first novel. Being 62 myself, and having written two novels in the past few years, and embarking on the querying process (pitching to find a publisher in laymen’s terms!), I’m heartened by her story.
Furthermore, imagine how invigorated I felt to see this headline in the Guardian …
THE RISE OF OLDER FEMALE WRITERS
Rife with such quotes as:
… older, unpublished writers are now at a premium – with radical, edgy women aged into their 80s particularly sought-after.
There has been a sea change in publishers’ understanding and acceptance of older women’s experience and their voices, which are no longer dismissed as safe or cosy.
…almost an advantage to be coming into publishing for the first time at a senior age with an amazing story
Bonnie Garmus is the living testament to that … so, you go girl!
