Ponder: Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry ©2022 by Bonnie Garmus was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. I had heard good things about it, something about a woman chemist who hosted a scientific cooking show on television, titled Supper at Six. That seemed like an interesting premise and so when my local library acquired the book I added my name to the waiting list. At one point I was as far down as #17, but I did eventually rise to the top and checked out the book; after all if it was so popular it must be good, right? I recently completed it and to be honest I do not know what all the hoopla was about. Lessons in Chemistry engaged me enough to find it entertaining, but I give it a middle-of-the-road, three-star rating. It was kind of preachy about the unequal treatment and injustices to women in the 1950s and 1960s, and even though I know from experience that a large number of those practices still exist today, the book was heavy-handed in addressing the topic.

The cooking show part of the plot does not appear until about a third or more of the way into the book. There is a love affair that goes awry; to tell more about it would be a spoiler. I did love the spunk of Elizabeth Zott and the clueless arrogance of her love interest, Calvin Evans, also a brilliant chemist. Maybe I should have been more appreciative of the exaggerated caricaturing of the main characters, but truthfully I found them a bit ludicrous and ultimately, plain silly. A forward thinking dog with the name Six-Thirty, touting an extremely large human vocabulary for a canine, certainly adds a bit of frivolity to the mix once the reader suspends disbelief. Humorous lines and dialogues abounded, so the book was fun to read. 

Even though Lessons in Chemistry was about a genius chemist, rocket science it was not. It ended rather abruptly in the final few chapters. Lessons in Chemistry did make me smile though, and so I rate it three stars. I do not regret having spent some leisure time reading it. I actually learned a bit of chemistry in the process. Abiogenesis however? Certainly we all know by now that those maggots did not spontaneously generate on that piece of spoiled meat. But abiogenesis is different and has never been neither proved nor disproved.

★★★☆☆ Better than average; not a waste of time

Ponder: Pax Journey Home

Pax ©2016 by Sara PennyPacker is a story about a boy and his fox geared toward young adult readers. This post is for Pax Journey Home ©2021 also by Sara Pennypacker and is a follow-up to that book. Pax Journey Home, also a young adult novel, is geared for ages 8-12. I decided to read it when I saw my nine-year-old granddaughter Vivian reading it last month.

It had been six years since I read Pax. My review of it is in my post for 4/11/2017. The author did a good job of reminding me of the storyline and characters so I did not feel lost when I was reading Pax Journey Home. Peter had been forced to leave behind his dearly loved pet fox during a move necessitated by his father enlisting in the military and his mother having died several years previous. Pax, domesticated since a kit, had adapted to the wild and now has a mate Bristle, whose tail had been scorched by explosion. Bristle's brother Runt had lost one hind leg in that same explosion. The follow on book continues the story, complete with the soft illustrations that I'd found so endearing. Also the story is told in alternate voices with chapter headings helpfully denoted by a silhouette of a fox or a boy.

Fast forward to where Peter is now 13 and is truly an orphan having lost his father to the war. He joins a traveling band of environmentalists who are restoring waterways from toxins released into them from war manufacturing byproducts and battle skirmishes. The area they are working to renew is in the same lands where Pax and his mate found a new home. The foxes now include a litter of three pups, two males and a female. 

The book has many many poignant moments where Peter deals with visiting his old house, abandoned abruptly and neglected due to war priorities. He is emotionally bombarded with his mom's possessions and his childhood treasures and the scattering of his father's ashes. A bright light is the sighting of Pax with a pup and a hope-beyond-hope for a renewal of their loving relationship. After all the losses in his young life can Peter open up to others and be happy again? The harshness of war is a theme but it runs side by side with the theme of renewal, both of the land and Peter's broken heart. I had rated Pax 4 stars six years ago and I similarly rate Pax Journey Home 4 stars today.

★★★★☆ Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience