1.5 stars The synopsis describes this book as “laugh out loud funny”, recommended for fans of Where’d You Go Bernadette and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.1.5 stars The synopsis describes this book as “laugh out loud funny”, recommended for fans of Where’d You Go Bernadette and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
A female chemist in the ‘50s? Great! Count me in.
BUT….I obviously read a different book.
- this book should be shelved in the fantasy section. Seriously. It’s fantasy. Which is fine, but if I had known I would have skipped it. The switch between fantastical elements and serious ones gave me whiplash.
- Funny? Within a few pages a woman is called a c*** twice, a brutal rape is described in detail, and there’s a suicide due to homophobia. Yeah, just hilarious.
- I’m over quirky characters who behave as if they are on the spectrum. Why can’t we have a woman who is a brilliant chemist but isn’t naive, socially awkward, and clueless? Except when she’s not, usually in time to deliver another monologue.
- the MC’s daughter is a genius who knew the periodic table as a preschooler and reads the Sound and the Fury at age 8. Of course she is. Very relatable.
- Elizabeth’s views and actions were not consistent with the era. It’s as if a woman from 2022 time traveled back to the 1950s and then lectured everyone with lengthy monologues on social issues and women’s rights. I don’t need a lecture and I don’t need to be repeatedly hit over the head on relevant social issues. This book needed more showing, less telling.
- the message is a worthy one. A woman ahead of her time in STEM who must fight the status quo in a male dominated world. But I think the message would have been stronger and more authentic if it had been realistic. There’s a lot of exaggeration and preposterous situations to drive a point home, which is not my favorite storytelling technique.
- all the men, with one exception, were ugly and hateful misogynists. I’m weary of male-bashing in fiction.
- Did I need to read details of a man who masturbates and flings pubic hairs across the room, leaving behind his sticky porn magazines for his wife to clean up? No I did not ...more
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