Review Summaries

• Reception is generally positive, with praise for the premise and the emotional stakes. Some readers want a tighter pace or a little more depth in places.

Reviews

• ハラスメントを跳ね返す

  60年代のアメリカで、女性が置かれた地位の低さを実感させるが、ユーモアも忘れず暗くはならずに楽しめる。特に終盤の逆転劇は印象的。

• 日本にも化学について学べる料理番組があれば

  おすすめ。

• Storytelling が秀逸

  化学というエッジな世界から、新しい人生を切り開いてゆく逞しい女性+娘の物語。ジェフリー・アーチャばりの波瀾万丈のstorytellingは読み手を飽きさせません。 フェミニズム的なバイアスが少々鼻につくことはありますが、ハリウッドの”me too”運動からして、主人公のエリザベスが経験するハラスメントが”小説的な盛り”とは思えないですね。♂の一人として色々考えさせられる一冊でした。

• 面白かった！

  テンポが良くてサクサクと読めました。最後は少し駆け足なようにも見えましたが、エンディングのその後が気になる感じで、これはこれで良かったと思います。じんわりポジティブな気分になる読了感も良かったです。

• Could not stop reading!!!

  diversity of characters is great in different social situations and eras. Some are helpful and supportive and many others are idiots to today's standard. Story development has never made me bored and the length of each chapter has been appropriate What Elizabeth says in the book has been always thoughtful and has shown another way to look at things. Accidents were a little too much, however, I have been in the story from the very beginning

• 面白かったです

  現在はもう少し状況が改善しているのかもしれませんが、女性が科学者として評価されることの難しさを知ることができます。自分らしく困難に立ち向かう主人公がパワフルです。彼女の周りの優しい登場人物達も魅力的で、面白かったです。

• Beliefs

  I believe the confidence always equals to the work you have done, and all triggers are from the bottom of your heart beliefs given by your parents or environments.

• 商品の状態はひどい

  触りたくないぐらいとても汚いです！

• Loved the way the author took you on an emotional and informative journey about life and lessons and heartache and happiness. What a great storyteller Bonnie Garmus is.

• The book arrived in perfect condition but had a bit of dust and dirt on the back. I was able to remove most of it with some wet wipes As for the book itself, I didn’t read it yet

• This book has had a huge amount of marketing and appears to have sold a lot of copies which is always great for the writer (and the industry in general). I've also had a few friends read it too and have heard nothing but good. The book is 386 pages split into 46 chapters which makes reading it very easy. I had a look on Amazon before I started and was amused to se that this is the number one book in the "Feminist Criticism" category (there was me thinking it was a novel!). The story starts with Elizabeth as a mother, scientist and TV presenter, juggling her commitments in a way that was unusual for the 1960s. We then go back ten years and begin to understand how she got where she is now. Whilst appearing to be light on the surface, the book quickly moves to much darker territory, showing the sexism and abuse that was accepted as normal. That sums up the beauty of this book - it has an unforgiving hardness at its centre but is wrapped but a thin layer of social predictability making it accessible to read. There is a balance of comedy and serious issues that also makes the book fun. Elizabeth as a character is hard to believe and I thought the author could have softened her more but, let yourself go with the depiction, and she is a great focus for the novel. The story has a big build up before we actually get Elizabeth on TV (which is marketed as the core of the novel) - this feels like a long time but is necessary as it sets the scene. Everyone in the book is a remarkable person for all sorts of reasons - even Six Thirty (the dog) who is taught to recognise hundreds of specific words. Getting further into the book I became more and more aware of how deep the topic is. There is a lot of thought around the equality messages and you can't help but make comparisons to today's society - some problems have been reduced by legislation and gradual society change but many issues are worse than ever. Women appearing on TV today would say that their looks are analysed more than ever before, with the possibilities of feedback not limited to phone calls and letters. Endings of novels are hard to get right but this one is perfectly achieved. There is a lovely amount of emotion mixed in with a good balance of well structured plot.

• Goodreads and other social media have been recommending this book to me for a while, but I looked at the cover and decided I didn't want to read another nerdy rom-com. I enjoy that genre generally, but not enough to grab this one. Then I saw the trailer for the upcoming Apple TV show. Puzzled, I read the blurb and a few reviews. This is where the old saying about "assumptions" showed me I was making a colossal mistake in judging a book by its cover. Anyway, long story short, I haven't enjoyed a book like this in a very long time. It's more historical fiction about the fifties and sixties as well as women's fiction. Elizabeth is a chemist in the Fifties, though very few think a woman has the mind and ability to be a scientist. The one exception is Calvin Evans, a noted chemist in his own right and the man who becomes Elizabeth's soulmate. This is brilliant writing, wry and poignant in turn. Elizabeth is alone except for Calvin because she's beautiful and intelligent, a deadly combination to men's egos that makes her an unwitting rival to other women who think their only job is to marry and produce children in this era. The supporting cast is lovely. Mad is perfect in her own unique manner, a genius of a child who sees things more clearly than many adults. Six-Thirty, the dog, has some of the best 'lines' in the book. Harriet, the Catholic neighbor stuck in a dead marriage, becomes Elizabeth and Mad's support line. Every character, good and bad, feels like people I've met in my real life, and it is delightful to see them collected here, contributing to this wonderful story. I'm old enough to remember the Fifties and Sixties. Ms. Garmus had captured every nuance of the period and sprinkled them like fairy dust over the stories about rowing and early live TV. If this all sounds like an odd combination, believe me, the author makes it all work. Bonnie Garmus has produced a terrific book, and I can't wait for more from her.

• There is long time that I’ve read something so impactful, interesting and profound. A book that took my attention since the first chapter and make me feel inspired by stories full of encrypted messages and important debates.

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