"we women are peculiar creatures. we tend not to love those who murder our families."
a
"but that is how a tragedy like ours or king lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last minute."
a
"this is why i preferred to keep people at arm's length. things got so much more complicated when you actually cared if someone sent you a text, or accepted an invitation, or wanted to hang out."
""
"and there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. things keep going on, they overlap and blur..."
"it's a very greek idea, and a very profound one. Beauty is terror. whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. and what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like the greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? to throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves?"
"being with you is as good as being alone."
h
"there's no really good timing for this kind of thing, is there? finding your person? it just kind of happens when it happens. or so they say."
"the night air gusted against my face, smelling like an absolute of fall; woodsmoke and dying leaves and the faintest bracing hint of future snow."
"my imagination had a tendency to get me into more trouble than i cared to admit. it was a wonder it hadn’t gotten me killed yet."
"courage is the root of change—and change is what we’re chemically designed to do."
It’s November 1961 and chemist
Elizabeth Zott, who works at the Hastings Institute, has fallen into a TV role
hosting ‘Supper at Six’ and has become an unlikely star. But she is not
fulfilled…
In 1960,
after her traumatic experience at UCLA, Elizabeth Zott starts working at the
Hastings Research Institute, which is filled with a male workforce that ignores
her enthusiasm and hard work. She is the only
one who views herself as a chemist. Her male colleagues cannot get past the
fact that she's a woman, and treat her more as a secretary and doormat,
acknowledging her only long enough to steal her work. Only one person sees her and shows
respect for her accomplishments: an aspiring, Nobel Prize-nominated,
grudge-holder named Calvin Evans. He is a prickly recluse who chose a
lowly institution as the Institute for his research so he’d be able to row, of
all things. The first time they met, he thought she was a secretary, and the
second time they met, he vomited on her. Charming, huh? There is nothing
ordinary about their love story. These two are soul mates. They are great minds
alike. They are the quirkiest, most unconventional couple. They row together.
They do research together. They adopt the ugliest and most loyal, incredible
dog and name him Six-Thirty. They were happy, even though Elizabeth rejected
marrying him because she wanted to become an independent scientist without
being acknowledged for her husband's contributions.
But life is unexpected, and so a
few years later, Elizabeth is on her own, trying to work as a scientist at a
lab in her home, as she earns a meager income as a consultant for scientists
who need and want her help, but it’s not enough to provide for herself and her
daughter, Mad. Her child is a four-year-old, extra-smart,
one-of-a-kind, sweetest girl. And through
happenstance, and a desperate producer’s encouragement, she ends up as the host
of a cooking show "Supper at Six.". She teaches women to use chemistry not only in their
kitchen but in their entire life to embrace change and challenges. But in her heart, she still desires to
be truly seen as a chemist, continuing the research she started with Calvin.
Despite things seemingly going well, Mad thinks
her mother is unhappy, and her homework to create a family tree pushes her to
search for more information about her father's past. She has no idea that her
search will uncover many long-kept secrets.
I loved the
author's extra-intelligent, dark, original sense of humor, that balanced
out the serious themes of the book. It
captures the times, the patronising way women are treated, the assumptions, the
blatant sexism and abuse which shocks you to the core even though you know it’s
all true. I absolutely loved how no-nonsence Elizabeth is and how she sees
everything so scientifically and is able to cut to the core of every situation. She's
fearless in the face of adversity, she stays true to herself, and she never
lets others intimidate her into being less than all she can be.
I am eager
for this author to write more so I can get lost in her world again, give myself
over to anger and fury but somehow come clean out at the end.
"you have to believe. otherwise, it will never happen."
"the really important thing to be was yourself, just as hard as you could."
