Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is the latest hit novel. Everyone who reads it, loves it. I'm the exception. At first, I liked it. It is an easy read and I laughed out loud at the protagonist's witty quips. Then there is that all important theme of misogyny -- women treated as second class citizens. But gradually, her lack of social filters, empathy, caricatures, and just her lack of perception of common sense began to wear on me. I realized that Elizabeth Zott, the main character had Asperger's, or something else on the autism spectrum. And I'm laughing!
The reader is supposed to laugh at someone's handicap! Elizabeth Zott, and her soul-mate, Calvin Evans, were social misfits with their anti-social behavior.
The story wasn't funny, anymore.
Yes, the novel has important themes but they're cliches. There also was too flippant treatment of suicide, death, and rape. Another thing that bothered me was the male bashing and mockery of religion. Even the minister admits he doesn't believe in God. If you are a person of faith, brace yourself. It wasn't necessary. Science and religion are compatible. You can't have science without faith.
You can see where the author's agenda was polarizing. Unless, Bonnie Garmus set out to write a farce. Her characters were hyperbolically unrealistic, especially the dog with a vocabulary larger than the readers'. Who has a neighbor that would welcome babysitting at four in the morning? The ending was too nicely tied up, which nails the unrealistic story as farce.
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