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Chemistry
Named by The Washington Post as a Notable Work of Fiction in 2017 and by Entertainment Weekly as a Best Debut Novel of 2017
Named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Ann Patchett on PBS NewsHour, Minnesota Public Radio, Maris Kreizman, and The Morning News
National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Honoree
Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize
A luminous coming-of-age novel about a young female scientist who must recalibrate her life when her academic career goes off track; perfect for readers of Lab Girl and Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You.
Three years into her graduate studies at a demanding Boston university, the unnamed narrator of this nimbly wry, concise debut finds her one-time love for chemistry is more hypothesis than reality. She’s tormented by her failed research–and reminded of her delays by her peers, her advisor, and most of all by her Chinese parents, who have always expected nothing short of excellence from her throughout her life. But there’s another, nonscientific question looming: the marriage proposal from her devoted boyfriend, a fellow scientist, whose path through academia has been relatively free of obstacles, and with whom she can’t make a life before finding success on her own. Eventually, the pressure mounts so high that she must leave everything she thought she knew about her future, and herself, behind. And for the first time, she’s confronted with a question she won’t find the answer to in a textbook: What do I really want? Over the next two years, this winningly flawed, disarmingly insightful heroine learns the formulas and equations for a different kind of chemistry–one in which the reactions can’t be quantified, measured, and analyzed; one that can be studied only in the mysterious language of the heart. Taking us deep inside her scattered, searching mind, here is a brilliant new literary voice that astutely juxtaposes the elegance of science, the anxieties of finding a place in the world, and the sacrifices made for love and family.
Named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Ann Patchett on PBS NewsHour, Minnesota Public Radio, Maris Kreizman, and The Morning News
National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Honoree
Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize
A luminous coming-of-age novel about a young female scientist who must recalibrate her life when her academic career goes off track; perfect for readers of Lab Girl and Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You.
Three years into her graduate studies at a demanding Boston university, the unnamed narrator of this nimbly wry, concise debut finds her one-time love for chemistry is more hypothesis than reality. She’s tormented by her failed research–and reminded of her delays by her peers, her advisor, and most of all by her Chinese parents, who have always expected nothing short of excellence from her throughout her life. But there’s another, nonscientific question looming: the marriage proposal from her devoted boyfriend, a fellow scientist, whose path through academia has been relatively free of obstacles, and with whom she can’t make a life before finding success on her own. Eventually, the pressure mounts so high that she must leave everything she thought she knew about her future, and herself, behind. And for the first time, she’s confronted with a question she won’t find the answer to in a textbook: What do I really want? Over the next two years, this winningly flawed, disarmingly insightful heroine learns the formulas and equations for a different kind of chemistry–one in which the reactions can’t be quantified, measured, and analyzed; one that can be studied only in the mysterious language of the heart. Taking us deep inside her scattered, searching mind, here is a brilliant new literary voice that astutely juxtaposes the elegance of science, the anxieties of finding a place in the world, and the sacrifices made for love and family.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2017
1257 people are currently reading
36276 people want to read
About the author
Weike Wang
11 books1,412 followersWeike Wang is a graduate of Harvard University, where she earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry and her doctorate in public health. She received her MFA from Boston University. Her fiction has been published in or is forthcoming from Alaska Quarterly Review, Glimmer Train, The Journal, Ploughshares, Redivider, and SmokeLong Quarterly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,844 reviews
April 29, 2018
Taut novel, tight prose. Fascinating approach to telling a story. Lots of ambition here. Found myself so frustrated and willing the narrator to make the choices I wanted her to make. So many lovely moments and turns of phrase. Interesting ending. Liked this book very much.
November 11, 2025
As a graduate student.... this one got to me.
It was real. Painfully real.
The burnout. The depression.
The loss of feeling towards something you once loved.
And yet, it was funny. A down-to-earth humor brought out in the darkest of times.
I was constantly blown away by the accuracy of Wang's novel.
There's so many times where I had to put the book down because I connected too much.
The way Wang conveyed all of the hope, and fear, and longing, and terror was absolutely spot on.
The whispers surrounding professors, the drama in the lab, the apathy towards life.
The paralyzing fear of failure, of complaining, of feeling weak.
I highly recommend this for the student who's curious about what being a graduate student is like and doesn't want a sugar coated brochure.
While not all experiences are like this, I can almost guarantee you will have days or weeks like exactly how Chemistry describes.
If there's anything I could add, would be that life DOES get better. You are not alone.
The best person to help you is you.
Take a walk outside in greenery at least twice a week.
Find a hobby that doesn't involve your degree.
Make good food and find someone to share it with.
Adopt a pet that gives you unconditional love.
Seek help - early and often - from labmates, friends, family, significant others, support groups and psychologists.
There's life outside the lab and while it does feel like the end-all-be-all - it isn't. And it never will be.
One way or another, you will survive.
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June 2, 2017
I'm between 3.5 and 4 stars, so I'll round up.
Here's a bit of a cautionary tale for those of you who might put too much pressure on your children to succeed academically, or those of you who push yourself too hard.
"The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half gaseous, both of which are probably poisonous."
Chemistry is spare and slightly quirky, yet it is surprisingly profound and moving. The unnamed narrator of Weike Wang's debut novel is a PhD student in chemistry at a university in Boston. She's been at her studies for several years and hasn't yet had the research breakthrough that will lead to her completing her dissertation, receiving her PhD, and hopefully getting a job, much to the chagrin and frustration of her Chinese parents, who will accept nothing less than success from her. They don't want excuses, delays, explanations—if she doesn't get her PhD, she's no longer their daughter.
"Ninety percent of all experiments fail. This is a fact. Every scientist has proven it. But you eventually start to wonder if this high rate of failure is also you. It can't be the chemicals' fault, you think. They have no souls."
As if her academic challenges weren't enough, her longtime boyfriend Eric has proposed marriage. A fellow scientist, Eric has followed his academic dreams without any challenges, and is on the cusp of getting a teaching job somewhere other than Boston. He doesn't understand why she can't accept the possibility that perhaps chemistry, and maybe even science altogether, isn't right for her. All he knows is how right they are for each other, so he can't fathom why she won't accept his proposal and go with him wherever his job takes him, and stop allowing her parents to rule her life.
But how can she give up her dreams to follow Eric, without giving her work all she has? Can she actually make a life with someone who has never had to struggle, whose parents support his every move, and give him the self-belief he needs?
When the pressure becomes too much to bear, she makes a split-second decision that changes everything. And now she has no idea what she wants, from her career, her relationship, her parents, or herself. Should she teach? Should she marry Eric and/or move with him? Should she tell her parents how she really feels, or work to finally make them proud of her? The dilemmas she faces turn her into a wholly different person, one she doesn't always recognize or even like.
"Eric has said that I carry close to my chest a ball of barbed wire that I sometimes throw at other people."
I found this really fascinating. Wang's narrator tells the story in the style of a person for whom English is not her first language, so at times the narrative is very spare and/or stilted, but the use of language and imagery really works here. The narrator doesn't come across as the warmest person, but Wang gives glimpses of her vulnerability and the emotion beneath the steely surface she has built to defend her from her parents and from those who don't believe women have a place in science.
Chemistry is definitely a quirky book that might not be for everyone. As she seeks to find answers to problems for which answers aren't always readily available, she is finding her way, with sometimes comical, sometimes emotional, and sometimes stoic results. She's a flawed character but one with surprising sensitivity, and you get to understand why she hides that away.
Don't let the title scare you. I got a "D" in high school chemistry (hope my mother doesn't read this) and vowed never to deal with that subject again, but I still found this a really compelling, beautifully told read.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
Here's a bit of a cautionary tale for those of you who might put too much pressure on your children to succeed academically, or those of you who push yourself too hard.
"The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half gaseous, both of which are probably poisonous."
Chemistry is spare and slightly quirky, yet it is surprisingly profound and moving. The unnamed narrator of Weike Wang's debut novel is a PhD student in chemistry at a university in Boston. She's been at her studies for several years and hasn't yet had the research breakthrough that will lead to her completing her dissertation, receiving her PhD, and hopefully getting a job, much to the chagrin and frustration of her Chinese parents, who will accept nothing less than success from her. They don't want excuses, delays, explanations—if she doesn't get her PhD, she's no longer their daughter.
"Ninety percent of all experiments fail. This is a fact. Every scientist has proven it. But you eventually start to wonder if this high rate of failure is also you. It can't be the chemicals' fault, you think. They have no souls."
As if her academic challenges weren't enough, her longtime boyfriend Eric has proposed marriage. A fellow scientist, Eric has followed his academic dreams without any challenges, and is on the cusp of getting a teaching job somewhere other than Boston. He doesn't understand why she can't accept the possibility that perhaps chemistry, and maybe even science altogether, isn't right for her. All he knows is how right they are for each other, so he can't fathom why she won't accept his proposal and go with him wherever his job takes him, and stop allowing her parents to rule her life.
But how can she give up her dreams to follow Eric, without giving her work all she has? Can she actually make a life with someone who has never had to struggle, whose parents support his every move, and give him the self-belief he needs?
When the pressure becomes too much to bear, she makes a split-second decision that changes everything. And now she has no idea what she wants, from her career, her relationship, her parents, or herself. Should she teach? Should she marry Eric and/or move with him? Should she tell her parents how she really feels, or work to finally make them proud of her? The dilemmas she faces turn her into a wholly different person, one she doesn't always recognize or even like.
"Eric has said that I carry close to my chest a ball of barbed wire that I sometimes throw at other people."
I found this really fascinating. Wang's narrator tells the story in the style of a person for whom English is not her first language, so at times the narrative is very spare and/or stilted, but the use of language and imagery really works here. The narrator doesn't come across as the warmest person, but Wang gives glimpses of her vulnerability and the emotion beneath the steely surface she has built to defend her from her parents and from those who don't believe women have a place in science.
Chemistry is definitely a quirky book that might not be for everyone. As she seeks to find answers to problems for which answers aren't always readily available, she is finding her way, with sometimes comical, sometimes emotional, and sometimes stoic results. She's a flawed character but one with surprising sensitivity, and you get to understand why she hides that away.
Don't let the title scare you. I got a "D" in high school chemistry (hope my mother doesn't read this) and vowed never to deal with that subject again, but I still found this a really compelling, beautifully told read.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
June 28, 2017
4.5 stars
One of the best novels I have read in 2017, Chemistry won me over with its earnest depiction of a Chinese American woman struggling to navigate her 20s. Our unnamed protagonist has always lived by the mantra "you must love chemistry unconditionally." She runs into trouble when, partway into her prestigious Chemistry PhD program, she encounters failure through a series of unfortunate events. To make matters worse, her kind and intelligent and successful boyfriend Eric has proposed to her - but our narrator does not want marriage at the moment, much to Eric's chagrin. With great fear and uncertainty, our narrator embarks on a journey to discover what she wants for herself, outside the opinions of the academy, her parents, and her boyfriend.
I loved how Chemistry captured its unnamed protagonist's search to find herself. While this type of plot could fall into cliches under a less talented writer, Weike Wang proves herself by creating a narrator with a distinct, flawed, and insightful voice. Wang sprinkles in chemistry references throughout the book to show how this subject matter has pervaded our protagonist's life; you do not have to enjoy chemistry to appreciate the quirkiness and humor this stylistic choice adds to the novel. Chemistry will resonate to an even deeper level with those who have encountered failure in a high-pressure academic or work setting, as well as those who have complicated relationships with their Asian American parents. I most enjoyed how Wang approaches the narrator's relationship with her parents with startling empathy and sensitivity. She included so many poignant scenes that touched on themes of cultural misunderstanding, Asians' experience of racism and acculturative stress, and the complicated ties between parent and child that made my heart ache in the best way possible.
Overall, Wang's debut novel does so many things right, beyond its masterful juggling of multiple meaningful conflicts for our narrator. Wang features a healthy and deep friendship, a narrator that goes to therapy consistently, and a sense of humor that had me snickering even as our protagonist struggled with deep issues. As someone in his early 20s about to start his PhD program, this book reminded me that it is okay to not have everything figured out - and sometimes, the process of figuring it out for yourself is what makes this time period meaningful. Kudos to Wang for a stellar debut novel, and I cannot wait to read what she writes next.
One of the best novels I have read in 2017, Chemistry won me over with its earnest depiction of a Chinese American woman struggling to navigate her 20s. Our unnamed protagonist has always lived by the mantra "you must love chemistry unconditionally." She runs into trouble when, partway into her prestigious Chemistry PhD program, she encounters failure through a series of unfortunate events. To make matters worse, her kind and intelligent and successful boyfriend Eric has proposed to her - but our narrator does not want marriage at the moment, much to Eric's chagrin. With great fear and uncertainty, our narrator embarks on a journey to discover what she wants for herself, outside the opinions of the academy, her parents, and her boyfriend.
I loved how Chemistry captured its unnamed protagonist's search to find herself. While this type of plot could fall into cliches under a less talented writer, Weike Wang proves herself by creating a narrator with a distinct, flawed, and insightful voice. Wang sprinkles in chemistry references throughout the book to show how this subject matter has pervaded our protagonist's life; you do not have to enjoy chemistry to appreciate the quirkiness and humor this stylistic choice adds to the novel. Chemistry will resonate to an even deeper level with those who have encountered failure in a high-pressure academic or work setting, as well as those who have complicated relationships with their Asian American parents. I most enjoyed how Wang approaches the narrator's relationship with her parents with startling empathy and sensitivity. She included so many poignant scenes that touched on themes of cultural misunderstanding, Asians' experience of racism and acculturative stress, and the complicated ties between parent and child that made my heart ache in the best way possible.
Overall, Wang's debut novel does so many things right, beyond its masterful juggling of multiple meaningful conflicts for our narrator. Wang features a healthy and deep friendship, a narrator that goes to therapy consistently, and a sense of humor that had me snickering even as our protagonist struggled with deep issues. As someone in his early 20s about to start his PhD program, this book reminded me that it is okay to not have everything figured out - and sometimes, the process of figuring it out for yourself is what makes this time period meaningful. Kudos to Wang for a stellar debut novel, and I cannot wait to read what she writes next.
July 24, 2017
These sentences. They are choppy. The reader. She does not like them. The plot. It is thin.
June 16, 2022
You know how in children's content, there's always some kind of message like "you can't always get what you want, and even if you did you wouldn't like it"? Like when Coraline gets to eat all that birthday cake and have the fun school uniform in the Other Mother's house, but the Other Mother is a big ol' beetle-y freak, or like every episode of the Fairly Oddparents, or that one song.
But I never bought it. I am very good at 11:11 wishes and strategizing for potential genie encounters, and I think I could handle it.
Until now.
Because this is a perfect combination of two books I really like, possibly even LOVE, and...I thought it was just okay.
If I could have designed a combination of Days of Distraction and Joan is Okay in a lab (science pun lol) I would have jumped at the chance.
But this perfect mix felt a little more soulless, a little less thematically significant, and in truth unsatisfying in comparison.
I feel like a regular ol' Timmy Turner.
Bottom line: I'll be careful what I wish for, I promise!!
------------
currently-reading updates
i liked a book too much and now i can only read books by that author.
------------
reading books by asian authors for aapi month!
book 1: kim jiyoung, born 1982
book 2: siren queen
book 3: the heart principle
book 4: n.p.
book 5: the hole
book 6: set on you
book 7: disorientation
book 8: parade
book 9: if i had your face
book 10: joan is okay
book 11: strange weather in tokyo
book 12: sarong party girls
book 13: the wind-up bird chronicle
book 14: portrait of a thief
book 15: sophie go's lonely hearts club
book 16: chemistry
But I never bought it. I am very good at 11:11 wishes and strategizing for potential genie encounters, and I think I could handle it.
Until now.
Because this is a perfect combination of two books I really like, possibly even LOVE, and...I thought it was just okay.
If I could have designed a combination of Days of Distraction and Joan is Okay in a lab (science pun lol) I would have jumped at the chance.
But this perfect mix felt a little more soulless, a little less thematically significant, and in truth unsatisfying in comparison.
I feel like a regular ol' Timmy Turner.
Bottom line: I'll be careful what I wish for, I promise!!
------------
currently-reading updates
i liked a book too much and now i can only read books by that author.
------------
reading books by asian authors for aapi month!
book 1: kim jiyoung, born 1982
book 2: siren queen
book 3: the heart principle
book 4: n.p.
book 5: the hole
book 6: set on you
book 7: disorientation
book 8: parade
book 9: if i had your face
book 10: joan is okay
book 11: strange weather in tokyo
book 12: sarong party girls
book 13: the wind-up bird chronicle
book 14: portrait of a thief
book 15: sophie go's lonely hearts club
book 16: chemistry
January 9, 2018
LINK TO MY FULL VIDEO REVIEW IS HERE!
The way I feel about this book is why representation in books matters. Some themes include being raised in a collectivist culture (China specifically, and growing up in a country that places intensely high value on academic achievement - look up "gao kao", a series of tests after students finish high school that determine the good majority of their future, and the pressure that parents place on their children), and moving to a country that has more individualist values. The way that the narrator frames her experience is primarily cognitive and it is reflective in the very matter of fact, somewhat choppy writing style (which I did not mind and felt like it reflected her mindset well). She feels uncomfortable and impatient when people attempt to slow down to focus on somatic feelings and struggles to process information in this way. I feel like this book may be received poorly in countries where people do not understand the values that the narrator in the book has, but that frustration is exactly what the narrator is feeling. This book is incredibly important, and while not comfortable for all to read, it is an exercise in learning about others' experience and as the dominant discourse, not trying to foist your own beliefs on them because you have never been made to step outside them.
The way I feel about this book is why representation in books matters. Some themes include being raised in a collectivist culture (China specifically, and growing up in a country that places intensely high value on academic achievement - look up "gao kao", a series of tests after students finish high school that determine the good majority of their future, and the pressure that parents place on their children), and moving to a country that has more individualist values. The way that the narrator frames her experience is primarily cognitive and it is reflective in the very matter of fact, somewhat choppy writing style (which I did not mind and felt like it reflected her mindset well). She feels uncomfortable and impatient when people attempt to slow down to focus on somatic feelings and struggles to process information in this way. I feel like this book may be received poorly in countries where people do not understand the values that the narrator in the book has, but that frustration is exactly what the narrator is feeling. This book is incredibly important, and while not comfortable for all to read, it is an exercise in learning about others' experience and as the dominant discourse, not trying to foist your own beliefs on them because you have never been made to step outside them.
July 10, 2022
I want to go on a long-winded rant against academia, especially STEM academia. Now that I see it from close and have had a lot of my doubts confirmed and many others negated (very much like the research I do) I feel like I occupy a superior position when it comes to talking about it, (this is the very sort of thing I hate about academia, the ivory tower syndrome) you know, an insider opinion or critique. But the truth is that STEM academia is full of failures and missteps and self-doubts and anxiety and possible poverty. So even if anyone occupies the ivory tower here, it's only momentary. If they do it for more than five seconds, they are plain delusional. There are several moments within a single week when we think 'ah fuck this, maybe I should just quit.' But we can't and we don't and we don't even really want to. So we resort to, ahem, other recreational activities, to take a break and then get back to nerve-wracking work. A lot of us are depressed, and it gets worse when our colleagues get good results and publish good papers.
I loved that this book was a long-winded rant against STEM academia. I loved that the anxiety and frustration about being a 'well-behaved' daughter of immigrant, Asian parents was so well represented. Although South-Asian, I know exactly what the protagonist was trying to convey when she repeatedly failed to meet her parents' expectations. When her mother told her 'you are worth nothing to me without that degree', I felt it. (Disclaimer: my mother isn't like that. It's just that I have grown up watching these things, and I did get reprimanded for my gradesheets a lot even if they were nearly perfect.) I liked that although depressed and aimless, the protagonist never felt like she was failing herself because she had lived all her life trying to reach goals that others had set for her. So yes, one day she said 'fuck it' and broke a few beakers and refused to do anything with her life.
I hate that it isn't really that simple for most of us, and even if these events were inspired by the author's real life, I'm still not convinced. I can't quit academia and lie to my parents about it. How am I gonna make a living?! Oh right, I don't live in America.
I was also not a fan of all the cliche science metaphors. Listen, just because you're from STEM, you don't need to put science into everything and make unnecessary connections, okay? Maybe that's how the author actually thinks, maybe she does really associate most things she encounters with all the geeky stuff she's learnt over the years, but to me it just reeked of 'oh, aren't I so smart?'
However, some of those metaphors were funny. This is a funny and authentic book. 3.5 stars.
I loved that this book was a long-winded rant against STEM academia. I loved that the anxiety and frustration about being a 'well-behaved' daughter of immigrant, Asian parents was so well represented. Although South-Asian, I know exactly what the protagonist was trying to convey when she repeatedly failed to meet her parents' expectations. When her mother told her 'you are worth nothing to me without that degree', I felt it. (Disclaimer: my mother isn't like that. It's just that I have grown up watching these things, and I did get reprimanded for my gradesheets a lot even if they were nearly perfect.) I liked that although depressed and aimless, the protagonist never felt like she was failing herself because she had lived all her life trying to reach goals that others had set for her. So yes, one day she said 'fuck it' and broke a few beakers and refused to do anything with her life.
I hate that it isn't really that simple for most of us, and even if these events were inspired by the author's real life, I'm still not convinced. I can't quit academia and lie to my parents about it. How am I gonna make a living?! Oh right, I don't live in America.
I was also not a fan of all the cliche science metaphors. Listen, just because you're from STEM, you don't need to put science into everything and make unnecessary connections, okay? Maybe that's how the author actually thinks, maybe she does really associate most things she encounters with all the geeky stuff she's learnt over the years, but to me it just reeked of 'oh, aren't I so smart?'
However, some of those metaphors were funny. This is a funny and authentic book. 3.5 stars.
May 16, 2017
I admit I am weary of novels about directionless twenty-somethings, they are often boring and derivative. But CHEMISTRY has a controlled sharpness. It is jagged. It never lets you fall into a rhythm and I love it for that. It takes the entire book to really understand the narrator, how she is hurt and how she tries to love, and even in her narration she will draw you in and then push you away.
I studied Chemistry in college. Every bit of science (and there is a lot) rang true. Maybe the narrator has a few too many pieces of trivia ready at a moment's notice, but it's minor. The struggle of being a smart person driven to succeed who suddenly realizes that all the drive in the world can't necessarily make success happen is a real one. It can be the central question of a person's life and it's a shock to encounter it in your 20's. Add to that the imperative that comes with being a child of immigrants who demand success and nothing else, and it's easy to see how our narrator gets adrift.
If you enjoy stories of unlikable, smart women who struggle to define themselves, this is a good book to add to your list.
I studied Chemistry in college. Every bit of science (and there is a lot) rang true. Maybe the narrator has a few too many pieces of trivia ready at a moment's notice, but it's minor. The struggle of being a smart person driven to succeed who suddenly realizes that all the drive in the world can't necessarily make success happen is a real one. It can be the central question of a person's life and it's a shock to encounter it in your 20's. Add to that the imperative that comes with being a child of immigrants who demand success and nothing else, and it's easy to see how our narrator gets adrift.
If you enjoy stories of unlikable, smart women who struggle to define themselves, this is a good book to add to your list.
August 24, 2017
Is it bad to relate super hard to a narrator that other reviewers describe as “unlikable”? Asking for a friend.
(But seriously, is it?)
Weike Wang’s debut novel is a patchwork of the narrator’s internal monologue, memories from her painful childhood, and vignettes of her relationship with a fellow graduate student. Oh, and scientific factoids. Despite how disjointed and piecemeal that sounds, it all comes together into a flowing, almost hypnotic read. The narrator (never named) has a perfectly nice boyfriend and is working on a perfectly adequate advanced degree in chemistry, but both aspects of her life come up against hurdles around the same time. The boyfriend wants to marry her, but her own parents’ dysfunctional disaster of a marriage makes her resistant to the idea. To move forward in her studies she has to have an original idea for research, but now she’s not sure why she even went into science in the first place. Was it because she was good at it, or because she enjoyed it? Neither? Both? The narrator doesn’t know. So she does (what seems to me to be) the logical thing: she burns it all to the ground. She quits grad school in a scene loud and glorious in its destruction, and trashes her relationship too by way of total immobility.
I suppose if I squint, I can see how some readers wouldn’t like being inside this narrator’s head—she overthinks everything, she self-sabotages, she is seemingly incapable of normal human interaction—but for me it was quite comfortable, because it felt a whole lot like being in my own head. While I didn’t suffer the unhappy childhood or fear of romantic commitment the narrator does, her constant discomfort with the unknowableness of life resonated deeply with me. How can a person get married, or choose a career, or gain independence from their parents, when there’s no way to know what happens next? How do we ever know we’re making the right choices? If you think too hard about it, that line of thinking is paralyzing.
If you’re looking for readalikes, this book reminded me of Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, even though Lab Girl is a memoir. They’re both about women in science, but they’re also about existential dread and what depression can do to relationships.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
(But seriously, is it?)
Weike Wang’s debut novel is a patchwork of the narrator’s internal monologue, memories from her painful childhood, and vignettes of her relationship with a fellow graduate student. Oh, and scientific factoids. Despite how disjointed and piecemeal that sounds, it all comes together into a flowing, almost hypnotic read. The narrator (never named) has a perfectly nice boyfriend and is working on a perfectly adequate advanced degree in chemistry, but both aspects of her life come up against hurdles around the same time. The boyfriend wants to marry her, but her own parents’ dysfunctional disaster of a marriage makes her resistant to the idea. To move forward in her studies she has to have an original idea for research, but now she’s not sure why she even went into science in the first place. Was it because she was good at it, or because she enjoyed it? Neither? Both? The narrator doesn’t know. So she does (what seems to me to be) the logical thing: she burns it all to the ground. She quits grad school in a scene loud and glorious in its destruction, and trashes her relationship too by way of total immobility.
I suppose if I squint, I can see how some readers wouldn’t like being inside this narrator’s head—she overthinks everything, she self-sabotages, she is seemingly incapable of normal human interaction—but for me it was quite comfortable, because it felt a whole lot like being in my own head. While I didn’t suffer the unhappy childhood or fear of romantic commitment the narrator does, her constant discomfort with the unknowableness of life resonated deeply with me. How can a person get married, or choose a career, or gain independence from their parents, when there’s no way to know what happens next? How do we ever know we’re making the right choices? If you think too hard about it, that line of thinking is paralyzing.
If you’re looking for readalikes, this book reminded me of Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, even though Lab Girl is a memoir. They’re both about women in science, but they’re also about existential dread and what depression can do to relationships.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
July 4, 2018
I didn’t love Chemistry but it kept me curious enough to want to finish reading it. I remember reading many mixed reviews on this book when it was first released and it’s easy for me to see why.
The narrator is an unnamed woman living in Boston, completing her Ph.D. in Chemistry. She lives with her boyfriend, Eric, who is also in school. She questions herself in multiple aspects of life, both personal and professional. While I can appreciate that people change their minds every day about big decisions, and are entitled to do so, I felt she was complacent for a fair portion of the book. Wondering, going through the motions, and kind of sitting idle. Not my style in real life, or to typically read about, but the book was short so I continued.
The story is told in first person by the narrator and told in skittish, sporadic spurts. I found them to be skittish at least. Bits and pieces - jumping from subject to subject - following a somewhat chronological timeline, dispersed with frequent flashbacks. Her parents place immense pressure on her to succeed, and have their own rocky relationship. Her best friend is dealing with problems, which she seeks discussion and analysis about, and Unnamed must also face her own reality regarding the future. The story includes some chemistry references, however as a science novice, these were not too complex. I felt they added to the overall story.
I read each section: Part One and Part Two, in two separate sittings. While I found Part One slightly preferable to Two, you could tell there was a build up to a pivotal moment or decision. Part Two is the “after” that follows the pivotal turning point. I wasn’t crazy about the ending but the more I think about it, it seems fitting for the character, and the story, which as a whole, I found to be decent yet far from a favorite.
The narrator is an unnamed woman living in Boston, completing her Ph.D. in Chemistry. She lives with her boyfriend, Eric, who is also in school. She questions herself in multiple aspects of life, both personal and professional. While I can appreciate that people change their minds every day about big decisions, and are entitled to do so, I felt she was complacent for a fair portion of the book. Wondering, going through the motions, and kind of sitting idle. Not my style in real life, or to typically read about, but the book was short so I continued.
The story is told in first person by the narrator and told in skittish, sporadic spurts. I found them to be skittish at least. Bits and pieces - jumping from subject to subject - following a somewhat chronological timeline, dispersed with frequent flashbacks. Her parents place immense pressure on her to succeed, and have their own rocky relationship. Her best friend is dealing with problems, which she seeks discussion and analysis about, and Unnamed must also face her own reality regarding the future. The story includes some chemistry references, however as a science novice, these were not too complex. I felt they added to the overall story.
I read each section: Part One and Part Two, in two separate sittings. While I found Part One slightly preferable to Two, you could tell there was a build up to a pivotal moment or decision. Part Two is the “after” that follows the pivotal turning point. I wasn’t crazy about the ending but the more I think about it, it seems fitting for the character, and the story, which as a whole, I found to be decent yet far from a favorite.
December 29, 2024
this was to me what poetry is for some of you
my SOUL has been fed. therapeutic and devastating, eccentric and tepid all in the most wonderful way. this was meant for a specific group of people and these people are ME.
my SOUL has been fed. therapeutic and devastating, eccentric and tepid all in the most wonderful way. this was meant for a specific group of people and these people are ME.
September 29, 2018
In much of the same vein as Sigrid Nunez's, THE FRIEND, Weike Wang's CHEMISTRY is a short novel chocked full of incredible insight, philosophical witticisms, and dynamic personal narrative. For all of the major thinking that this novel will make you do, it will also make you laugh out loud as you consider its bigger questions. Wang's prose is sharp, honed, and pleasingly economical—there's no fluff here—just the essentials.
Though the plot itself doesn't break the mold—a bildungsroman focused on an aimless young female immigrant teetering between the wishes of her parents, her boyfriend, and the world at large—CHEMISTRY feels entirely new. Whether it is its deeply introspective style, or the seemingly effortless humor that blends so well into the prose, Wang has found a true sweet spot here. This is my favorite type of novel: heady, philosophical, hilarious, and highly aware of when it shouldn't take it self too seriously.
For fans of Sigrid Nunez, this novel is a must; Wang is the heir apparent of her distinct style. And for anyone else who just enjoys a book that will make you laugh, think, and look at people around you a little differently, this book is also a must. Bottom Line: a must.
Though the plot itself doesn't break the mold—a bildungsroman focused on an aimless young female immigrant teetering between the wishes of her parents, her boyfriend, and the world at large—CHEMISTRY feels entirely new. Whether it is its deeply introspective style, or the seemingly effortless humor that blends so well into the prose, Wang has found a true sweet spot here. This is my favorite type of novel: heady, philosophical, hilarious, and highly aware of when it shouldn't take it self too seriously.
For fans of Sigrid Nunez, this novel is a must; Wang is the heir apparent of her distinct style. And for anyone else who just enjoys a book that will make you laugh, think, and look at people around you a little differently, this book is also a must. Bottom Line: a must.
June 3, 2017
This was so boring. There isn't much of a story, but what there is of one follows a young woman who is studying for a PhD in Chemistry. She soon drops out, and the rest of the book follows the aftermath. The story was written in such a simplistic way, devoid of any real emotion, and I get that this was probably to put across how the protagonist felt in her current situation... but it was so monotonous. At least it was short and I didn't waste too much time on it, but I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
December 31, 2018
I loved this so much. I was reading the whole time thinking of why maybe others wouldn't-- the stream of conscious narration, the open-endedness and the inability to relate to the ideas of family pressure, achievement and culture impressed on immigrants and first-generation Americans. Wang has these turns of phrase that just made me smile, even while I was hurting for her main character. It was beautiful and flowed so well. A powerful little book and one that I will carry in my feelings for a long time.
December 10, 2021
Q:
What is a rate? he asks.
It is a number divided by time.
What is a ratio? he asks.
It is a number divided by another number.
What is the difference between a rate and a ratio?
One is a subset of the other, like a square is always a rectangle but a rectangle is not always a square. (c)
Q:
The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half in gaseous, both of which are probably poisonous. (c)
Q:
Diamond is no longer the hardest mineral known to man. New Scientist reports that lonsdaleite is. Lonsdaleite is 58 percent harder than diamond and forms only when meteorites smash themselves into Earth. (c)
Q:
The desire to throw something at his head never goes away. Depending on what he says, it is either the computer or the desk. (c)
Q:
From kindergarten to sixth grade, his mother puts handwritten notes in his lunch box. She writes things like You are my sun and stars.
That’s sweet, I say, until I think more about the phrase.
You cannot be two things at once: You are not light, both wave and particle. You are not Schrödinger’s cat, both dead and alive. (c)
Q:
DNA unzips to replicate and undergo meiosis, to make things like egg and sperm that come together to make things like babies.
It is this unzipping that I find sensual. It is like the unzipping of a woman’s dress. (c)
Q:
In Arizona, a PhD advisor dies. Authorities blame the grad student who shot him, but grad students around the world blame the advisor. No student can graduate without the advisor’s approval. This advisor had kept the student in lab for seventeen years, believing him too valuable to be let go or simply having gone insane. I think, Kudos to the student for making it to seventeen years. I would have shot someone at ten.
My advisor is more reasonable than that, which is why he is still alive. (c)
Q:
A Chinese proverb predicts that for every man with great skill, there is a woman with great beauty.
In ancient China, there are four great beauties:
The first so beautiful that when fish see her reflection they forget how to swim and sink.
The second so beautiful that birds forget how to fly and fall.
The third so beautiful that the moon refuses to shine.
The fourth so beautiful that flowers refuse to bloom.
I find it interesting how often beauty is shown to make the objects around it feel worse. (c)
Q:
What my mother lacks in vision, she makes up for in hindsight. (c)
Q:
What’s the worst that could happen? says everybody.
And when all this encouragement gets to my head and I finally work up the nerve to tell them: Mom, Dad, I’m not going to finish my PhD. I’m quitting.
My mother says, Don’t call me again. Don’t even think about coming home.
She says, Who do you think you are? You are nothing to me without that degree. (c0
Q:
A weird problem I have is that fat collects only on my abdomen and never on my arms or legs or below the chin.
Lucky you, the best friend says, who is growing all over. She says the glow they talk about is a lie. Glow is just another way to say fat, sweaty, and radiating hormonal rage. She feels like a crazed hippo most of the time.
I think the glow is probably still there, just hard to see, in the ultraviolet or higher. (c)
Q;
Everyone is a genius, said Einstein. But he also said, A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of thirty will never do so.
Likewise, a mathematician peaks at the age of twenty-six. For whatever reason, after that young age, the creativity needed to do the work diminishes. (c)
Q:
What the shrink says about hobbies: You should find some. Do you have any? You should find some.
What the lab mate says about hobbies: You can never do science as a hobby. Once you give up science, you give it up completely.
What my father says about hobbies: Growing a seasonal vegetable garden is essential. (c)
Q:
Biologically, physical strength comes from mitochondria, which are organelles that generate all of our body’s energy. A unique feature of mitochondria is that they have their own DNA. Whereas the rest of the body is built on code that is half paternal and half maternal, mitochondrial DNA is entirely maternal and passed down from the mother. (c)
What is a rate? he asks.
It is a number divided by time.
What is a ratio? he asks.
It is a number divided by another number.
What is the difference between a rate and a ratio?
One is a subset of the other, like a square is always a rectangle but a rectangle is not always a square. (c)
Q:
The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half in gaseous, both of which are probably poisonous. (c)
Q:
Diamond is no longer the hardest mineral known to man. New Scientist reports that lonsdaleite is. Lonsdaleite is 58 percent harder than diamond and forms only when meteorites smash themselves into Earth. (c)
Q:
The desire to throw something at his head never goes away. Depending on what he says, it is either the computer or the desk. (c)
Q:
From kindergarten to sixth grade, his mother puts handwritten notes in his lunch box. She writes things like You are my sun and stars.
That’s sweet, I say, until I think more about the phrase.
You cannot be two things at once: You are not light, both wave and particle. You are not Schrödinger’s cat, both dead and alive. (c)
Q:
DNA unzips to replicate and undergo meiosis, to make things like egg and sperm that come together to make things like babies.
It is this unzipping that I find sensual. It is like the unzipping of a woman’s dress. (c)
Q:
In Arizona, a PhD advisor dies. Authorities blame the grad student who shot him, but grad students around the world blame the advisor. No student can graduate without the advisor’s approval. This advisor had kept the student in lab for seventeen years, believing him too valuable to be let go or simply having gone insane. I think, Kudos to the student for making it to seventeen years. I would have shot someone at ten.
My advisor is more reasonable than that, which is why he is still alive. (c)
Q:
A Chinese proverb predicts that for every man with great skill, there is a woman with great beauty.
In ancient China, there are four great beauties:
The first so beautiful that when fish see her reflection they forget how to swim and sink.
The second so beautiful that birds forget how to fly and fall.
The third so beautiful that the moon refuses to shine.
The fourth so beautiful that flowers refuse to bloom.
I find it interesting how often beauty is shown to make the objects around it feel worse. (c)
Q:
What my mother lacks in vision, she makes up for in hindsight. (c)
Q:
What’s the worst that could happen? says everybody.
And when all this encouragement gets to my head and I finally work up the nerve to tell them: Mom, Dad, I’m not going to finish my PhD. I’m quitting.
My mother says, Don’t call me again. Don’t even think about coming home.
She says, Who do you think you are? You are nothing to me without that degree. (c0
Q:
A weird problem I have is that fat collects only on my abdomen and never on my arms or legs or below the chin.
Lucky you, the best friend says, who is growing all over. She says the glow they talk about is a lie. Glow is just another way to say fat, sweaty, and radiating hormonal rage. She feels like a crazed hippo most of the time.
I think the glow is probably still there, just hard to see, in the ultraviolet or higher. (c)
Q;
Everyone is a genius, said Einstein. But he also said, A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of thirty will never do so.
Likewise, a mathematician peaks at the age of twenty-six. For whatever reason, after that young age, the creativity needed to do the work diminishes. (c)
Q:
What the shrink says about hobbies: You should find some. Do you have any? You should find some.
What the lab mate says about hobbies: You can never do science as a hobby. Once you give up science, you give it up completely.
What my father says about hobbies: Growing a seasonal vegetable garden is essential. (c)
Q:
Biologically, physical strength comes from mitochondria, which are organelles that generate all of our body’s energy. A unique feature of mitochondria is that they have their own DNA. Whereas the rest of the body is built on code that is half paternal and half maternal, mitochondrial DNA is entirely maternal and passed down from the mother. (c)
May 27, 2022
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3 ¼ stars
Chemistry makes for a quick yet compelling read. While the narrative tries a bit too hard to be quirky, I did find certain scenes and or sections to be fairly amusing. Chemistry implements those ‘in’ literary devices such as an unnamed narrator and a lack of speech marks that I find somewhat predictable. Still, the story focuses on a Chinese American woman in her thirties who is studying for a PhD in chemistry. She’s in a relationship with a seemingly ‘good’ white guy who seems ready to take their relationship to the next stage (marriage). But, like a lot of contemporary female narrators, our mc is not feeling sure of anything. She’s struggling to keep up with the demanding hours of her PhD, overwhelmed by the pressure of other people's expectations, and confused by her own feelings and emotions (she feels too much, nothing at all). While our narrator is initially able to go through the motions of her everyday life, she eventually slips behind her PhD. Her partner begins to grow restless at our narrator’s perpetual ambivalence towards the future, and soon enough our protagonist’s life begins falling apart. As we read of her present tribulations we are given insight into her experiences growing up. Her focus on academic success was instilled in her by her parents who always seemed dissatisfied with her, even when she studies what they want her to. In examining her relationship with her parents and the way they brought her up the narrator discusses the stereotypes about Asian parents. She also talks about the everyday microaggressions she experiences, particularly working as a woc in a field that is predominantly male. The author also captures those quarter-life crisis uncertainties that make you question whether the ‘path’ you are on is leading somewhere and if it is, whether you really want to reach that destination. The narrator’s growing discontent over her studies certainly resonated with me as I’m currently in my final year of my masters and I feel academically exhausted to the point where I considered (and still am) dropping out. It is particularly frustrating to see that no matter how hard you work or try, you don’t get the results/grades you hope for. On top of that, the narrator also has a dissolving relationship to cope with. While her partner is presented as this supportive nice guy he repeatedly fails to understand where she’s coming from, seems unable to understand her point of view, and remains blissfully unaware of his own privilege (as a cis straight white man from a financially and emotionally stable family).
Our main character’s best friend, who is also nameless and referred to as 'the best friend', is also having troubles of her own as soon after giving birth discovers that her husband is betraying her.
While these may all sound like heavy topics the tone of this story is very much light and comical. As I mentioned above, the narrative goes for this offbeat kind of tone that at times comes across as contrived. There were numerous instances where I did not find the narrator funny. There is a running-gag of sorts where she explains a joke to someone because her sense of humor is just so quirky that people don’t always get it. I did find her somewhat endearing. For example, in this scene, where her best friend is once again venting about her cheating husband: “This is all your fault, she says to one of the posters. You did this to him, you and your female wiles. Then she moves on to next poster. I follow and apologize to each woman in turn.”. Or when she imagines what her best friend's baby is thinking: “The baby has become sentient. When we walk, she screams across the street at other babies, baby expletives, we think. Something along the line of Goddamn it, other baby, don’t try to out-cute me. To make matters worse, she is very cute, so we have a hard time correcting her.”. The writing could certainly be effective and I appreciated the way the author articulates these difficult to pin down feelings & fears. The narrator’s inner monologue is punctuated by scientific anecdotes that certainly fitted her background. While some of her jokes were misses, and her never-ending silly witticism did detract from her actual story, there were a couple of times where I found her genuinely funny.
While the dialogue often rang true to life (in a mumblecore sort of way), some of the characters struck me as thinly rendered. The boyfriend for example is incredibly generic and exceedingly dull to the point where I did not feel at all affected by his departure. And, while I believed that the narrator is lonely, I wasn’t at all convinced that she loved him. Similarly, I didn't buy into her bond with the math student she's tutoring. I would have liked to see more of her parents or that they had not been painted in a negative light for 80% of the story. Still, overall, I liked Chemistry. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Julia Whelan, who, bear in mind is one of my favorite narrators, wasn’t the best ‘voice’ for this. That is to say that there are plenty of talented Asian American female narrators who could have narrated Chemistry.
If you are looking for a humorous take on failure, self-fulfilment, parental and self-pressure, loneliness and connection, Chemistry might be your perfect next read. I can see this novel
appealing to fans of Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu, Edge Case by YZ Chin, and Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang, all which also focus on young(ish) alienated Asian American women who feel stuck or caught in a directionless spiral. If you are a fan of the contemporary literary trend which is disaffected/directionless female protagonists who don't feel so good, well, this title may a great addition to your tbr.
I look forward to reading whatever Wang publishes next!
3 ¼ stars
“Chemistry, while powerful, is sometimes unpredictable.”
Chemistry makes for a quick yet compelling read. While the narrative tries a bit too hard to be quirky, I did find certain scenes and or sections to be fairly amusing. Chemistry implements those ‘in’ literary devices such as an unnamed narrator and a lack of speech marks that I find somewhat predictable. Still, the story focuses on a Chinese American woman in her thirties who is studying for a PhD in chemistry. She’s in a relationship with a seemingly ‘good’ white guy who seems ready to take their relationship to the next stage (marriage). But, like a lot of contemporary female narrators, our mc is not feeling sure of anything. She’s struggling to keep up with the demanding hours of her PhD, overwhelmed by the pressure of other people's expectations, and confused by her own feelings and emotions (she feels too much, nothing at all). While our narrator is initially able to go through the motions of her everyday life, she eventually slips behind her PhD. Her partner begins to grow restless at our narrator’s perpetual ambivalence towards the future, and soon enough our protagonist’s life begins falling apart. As we read of her present tribulations we are given insight into her experiences growing up. Her focus on academic success was instilled in her by her parents who always seemed dissatisfied with her, even when she studies what they want her to. In examining her relationship with her parents and the way they brought her up the narrator discusses the stereotypes about Asian parents. She also talks about the everyday microaggressions she experiences, particularly working as a woc in a field that is predominantly male. The author also captures those quarter-life crisis uncertainties that make you question whether the ‘path’ you are on is leading somewhere and if it is, whether you really want to reach that destination. The narrator’s growing discontent over her studies certainly resonated with me as I’m currently in my final year of my masters and I feel academically exhausted to the point where I considered (and still am) dropping out. It is particularly frustrating to see that no matter how hard you work or try, you don’t get the results/grades you hope for. On top of that, the narrator also has a dissolving relationship to cope with. While her partner is presented as this supportive nice guy he repeatedly fails to understand where she’s coming from, seems unable to understand her point of view, and remains blissfully unaware of his own privilege (as a cis straight white man from a financially and emotionally stable family).
Our main character’s best friend, who is also nameless and referred to as 'the best friend', is also having troubles of her own as soon after giving birth discovers that her husband is betraying her.
While these may all sound like heavy topics the tone of this story is very much light and comical. As I mentioned above, the narrative goes for this offbeat kind of tone that at times comes across as contrived. There were numerous instances where I did not find the narrator funny. There is a running-gag of sorts where she explains a joke to someone because her sense of humor is just so quirky that people don’t always get it. I did find her somewhat endearing. For example, in this scene, where her best friend is once again venting about her cheating husband: “This is all your fault, she says to one of the posters. You did this to him, you and your female wiles. Then she moves on to next poster. I follow and apologize to each woman in turn.”. Or when she imagines what her best friend's baby is thinking: “The baby has become sentient. When we walk, she screams across the street at other babies, baby expletives, we think. Something along the line of Goddamn it, other baby, don’t try to out-cute me. To make matters worse, she is very cute, so we have a hard time correcting her.”. The writing could certainly be effective and I appreciated the way the author articulates these difficult to pin down feelings & fears. The narrator’s inner monologue is punctuated by scientific anecdotes that certainly fitted her background. While some of her jokes were misses, and her never-ending silly witticism did detract from her actual story, there were a couple of times where I found her genuinely funny.
“It is a double-edged sword.
To be smart and beautiful, says the best friend, and this is probably very close to what every woman wants. I too had high hopes of growing up into both a genius and a bombshell.
To be Marie Curie but then to also look like Grace Kelly.”
While the dialogue often rang true to life (in a mumblecore sort of way), some of the characters struck me as thinly rendered. The boyfriend for example is incredibly generic and exceedingly dull to the point where I did not feel at all affected by his departure. And, while I believed that the narrator is lonely, I wasn’t at all convinced that she loved him. Similarly, I didn't buy into her bond with the math student she's tutoring. I would have liked to see more of her parents or that they had not been painted in a negative light for 80% of the story. Still, overall, I liked Chemistry. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Julia Whelan, who, bear in mind is one of my favorite narrators, wasn’t the best ‘voice’ for this. That is to say that there are plenty of talented Asian American female narrators who could have narrated Chemistry.
If you are looking for a humorous take on failure, self-fulfilment, parental and self-pressure, loneliness and connection, Chemistry might be your perfect next read. I can see this novel
appealing to fans of Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu, Edge Case by YZ Chin, and Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang, all which also focus on young(ish) alienated Asian American women who feel stuck or caught in a directionless spiral. If you are a fan of the contemporary literary trend which is disaffected/directionless female protagonists who don't feel so good, well, this title may a great addition to your tbr.
I look forward to reading whatever Wang publishes next!
August 14, 2017
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I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this book titled Chemistry! Author Weike Wang’s unnamed narrator, a Chinese-American Ph.d. student, lives with her redheaded boyfriend behind her traditional parents’ backs. Despite the high expectations for their daughter to become a chemist, she is unable to be successful in her research, losing interest in her male dominated field and having difficulty making decisions regarding her career and her relationship. The boyfriend proposed but she is just not feeling it enough to say yes, yet she doesn’t immediately say no. Caught in ambiguity, with nonscientific questions of the heart on her mind, and confusion about her future hanging in the balance, she searches inside herself to understand who she is, flaws and all, and how she fits in. Like an unsolved scientific problem, she may not be able to solve it and may choose to just ruminate. “Being in limbo doesn’t preclude us from sharing nice meals. In limbo, we still have to eat.”
The narrator states that her vision is poor, and everything about her, her parents and her acne for example, seems worse than others. This, for me is a metaphor portraying how self conscious she is; a harsh judge of herself, while looking at others through a softer veil of judgement. Overwhelmed with her own situation, she shows little emotion to the outside world. Her approach to life is scientific, and a bit negative. “The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half in gaseous, both of which are probably poisonous.” She is a realist, guided by proven fact and less by emotion and feelings; her life teeters back and forth while she is looking for a balance. “The only difference between a poison and a cure is dosage”. She searches for happiness and presents to the reader how she feels about it with an equation:
“Happiness = reality- expectations.
If reality is > expectations, then you are happy.
If reality is < expectations, then you are not.
Hence the lower your expectations, the happier you will be.”
Wang is a minimalist when it comes to verbiage; like a mathematical equation with no directions, she says only what is imperative, no flowery language or description but with an added touch of humor. It is up to the reader to read into the meaning of what is presented; her metaphors are fantastic food for thought when it comes to understanding the main character and her journey.
Written without names, the narrator could be anyone; an anonymous person in the midst of the struggles of life. I loved all the science references,metaphorical situations, and found this book most enjoyable. Chemistry is short but worthy of spending the time to read thoughtfully. It is satisfying in so many ways; a must read this summer with a unique style, thought provoking, heartbreaking and funny!
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this book titled Chemistry! Author Weike Wang’s unnamed narrator, a Chinese-American Ph.d. student, lives with her redheaded boyfriend behind her traditional parents’ backs. Despite the high expectations for their daughter to become a chemist, she is unable to be successful in her research, losing interest in her male dominated field and having difficulty making decisions regarding her career and her relationship. The boyfriend proposed but she is just not feeling it enough to say yes, yet she doesn’t immediately say no. Caught in ambiguity, with nonscientific questions of the heart on her mind, and confusion about her future hanging in the balance, she searches inside herself to understand who she is, flaws and all, and how she fits in. Like an unsolved scientific problem, she may not be able to solve it and may choose to just ruminate. “Being in limbo doesn’t preclude us from sharing nice meals. In limbo, we still have to eat.”
The narrator states that her vision is poor, and everything about her, her parents and her acne for example, seems worse than others. This, for me is a metaphor portraying how self conscious she is; a harsh judge of herself, while looking at others through a softer veil of judgement. Overwhelmed with her own situation, she shows little emotion to the outside world. Her approach to life is scientific, and a bit negative. “The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half in gaseous, both of which are probably poisonous.” She is a realist, guided by proven fact and less by emotion and feelings; her life teeters back and forth while she is looking for a balance. “The only difference between a poison and a cure is dosage”. She searches for happiness and presents to the reader how she feels about it with an equation:
“Happiness = reality- expectations.
If reality is > expectations, then you are happy.
If reality is < expectations, then you are not.
Hence the lower your expectations, the happier you will be.”
Wang is a minimalist when it comes to verbiage; like a mathematical equation with no directions, she says only what is imperative, no flowery language or description but with an added touch of humor. It is up to the reader to read into the meaning of what is presented; her metaphors are fantastic food for thought when it comes to understanding the main character and her journey.
Written without names, the narrator could be anyone; an anonymous person in the midst of the struggles of life. I loved all the science references,metaphorical situations, and found this book most enjoyable. Chemistry is short but worthy of spending the time to read thoughtfully. It is satisfying in so many ways; a must read this summer with a unique style, thought provoking, heartbreaking and funny!
September 26, 2021
Wang writes in a staccato, pithy style that builds in intensity. As the novel progresses, the unnamed narrator reveals more and more about herself, the demands of her parents, the difficulty of succeeding as a scientist, her fear of love and suspicion of marriage. She has a fresh, poetic lens through which she views the world. I wanted to shake her at times - some of her decisions felt so self-destructive. By the end, she brought me to tears. But hopeful.
July 2, 2023
"It was once believed that heart cells could not regenerate, that once they died they could not be replaced. Now it is known that the heart can renew itself. But the process is very slow. In an average person, the rate is 1 percent each year."
I loved this book! It was a slow burn that steadily caught up with me, and punched me in the gut. Wang was so skillful at using facts about the sciences and language to drive home her ideas. It was genius, and I came away knowing a lot more about the "science" of everyday things, much the same way I felt after reading A Tale for the Time Being. Her observations on immigration, assimilation and identity rang so true! The people we are today has a great deal to do with our upbringing, but much the way the literal heart has the ability to regenerate, we as people have the ability to adapt and change unpleasant things about our present and future. Highly recommend! Very profound, touching and extremely funny.
July 31, 2017
I enjoyed reading this story. The main character and narrator is unnamed, she is a doctoral student in Chemistry who lives with her boyfriend Eric. She is Chinese-American and arrived to the U.S. with her parents when she was 6 years old. That is the main plot, but what the author does wonderfully is take us in a journey through the thoughts of the main character and listen to her inner dialog about the struggles with her relationships, parents, studies, and life in general.
The book is well written, the narrator talks about many subjects but mostly about science, her relationship with her perfectionist parents, and the Chinese culture she has been exposed to, these science facts and experiences is was what kept me interested and engaged.
You will hear passages such as "Antipasto is not-pasta, like antimatter is not-matter" and "An atom is mostly made up of empty space. If you remove the empty space from every atom, the entire world's human population could fit inside a sugar cube." She also talks about Gattaca which is one of my favorite sci-fi movies.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to those who love character-driven books.
Review posted on blog
The book is well written, the narrator talks about many subjects but mostly about science, her relationship with her perfectionist parents, and the Chinese culture she has been exposed to, these science facts and experiences is was what kept me interested and engaged.
You will hear passages such as "Antipasto is not-pasta, like antimatter is not-matter" and "An atom is mostly made up of empty space. If you remove the empty space from every atom, the entire world's human population could fit inside a sugar cube." She also talks about Gattaca which is one of my favorite sci-fi movies.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to those who love character-driven books.
Review posted on blog
April 29, 2019
I adored the first 3/4 of this book - particularly hearing about the combination of pressures caused by her parents, her graduate program, and her mental health. The verse shifts throughout the story (which makes sense given the protagonist's headspace), but I personally found the last 1/4 less engaging.
May 23, 2017
Chemistry is a difficult book to describe, but I was very glad I read it. Weike’s unnamed protagonist embarks on a soul-searching journey to find herself. Unmoored by her lack of success in the scientific realm and her indecision about whether to accept her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, she begins therapy and pursues a job as a science (specifically chemistry) tutor.
The format of Chemistry really appealed to me. The story jumps around a fair amount in sync with the protagonist’s scattered mind. As Chemistry progresses, we learn about her early life and her strained relationship with her perfectionist parents. As each tidbit is divulged, it becomes easier and easier to understand her decision paralysis. Throughout the story, she uses chemistry references for almost everything she does or teaches to her students she tutors. I loved that aspect of the book so much.
While Chemistry is only 211 pages, I did not find it to be a very quick read. The story is incredibly thought provoking, occasionally heartbreaking and always incredibly intelligent. Thanks to Alfred A. Knopf for the chance to read this amazing ARC.
The format of Chemistry really appealed to me. The story jumps around a fair amount in sync with the protagonist’s scattered mind. As Chemistry progresses, we learn about her early life and her strained relationship with her perfectionist parents. As each tidbit is divulged, it becomes easier and easier to understand her decision paralysis. Throughout the story, she uses chemistry references for almost everything she does or teaches to her students she tutors. I loved that aspect of the book so much.
While Chemistry is only 211 pages, I did not find it to be a very quick read. The story is incredibly thought provoking, occasionally heartbreaking and always incredibly intelligent. Thanks to Alfred A. Knopf for the chance to read this amazing ARC.
June 17, 2017
3.5-4 stars. The narrator of this short novel has pushed herself for years academically, and now she's in a PhD chemistry program, and nothing's working out. Her experiment is a long series of failures, her boyfriend's asked her to marry and she can't seem to bring herself to say yes or no. And she holds such anger and pain in herself from the exceedingly high expectations put on her by her parents, who emigrated to the US from China years ago. The narrator's mother was deeply angry and frustrated by her new experiences in her new country, and her father strove to excel as an engineer. The two parents fought constantly, and always expected perfection from their daughter.
The narrator's tense childhood and parental expectations hit a little too close to home for me, and I found myself constantly putting the book down to take a break from the feelings the narrator obliquely expressed through funny or sarcastic comments to her boyfriend. The author expressed the constant push-pull in the narrator's head by the Chinese attitudes mixed with the N. American attitudes well; I kept finding the observations to be dagger-point sharp.
The narrator's tense childhood and parental expectations hit a little too close to home for me, and I found myself constantly putting the book down to take a break from the feelings the narrator obliquely expressed through funny or sarcastic comments to her boyfriend. The author expressed the constant push-pull in the narrator's head by the Chinese attitudes mixed with the N. American attitudes well; I kept finding the observations to be dagger-point sharp.
August 1, 2017
It was initially tough finding my way amidst the choppy verse. It’s disjointed and scattered - which makes sense as the narrator finds herself torn. Living up the the expectations that come with being a second generation Asian, navigating the perils of her Ph.D and trying to figure out what to do with the marriage proposal from her entirely devoted and loving boyfriend.
Like Jill Alexander Essbaum’s Hausfrau, where the rules of grammar spill into the how that narrator navigates her relationships in the real world, our narrator here can’t help but throw out scientific asides. But it just wasn’t gelling for me until I got past the halfway point. I started to find my bearings - or maybe our narrator managed to draw on some meagre strength of her own that helped straighten out the narrative.
And then I took a two week break from the book. It’s not that big a book either. On my return the ending rushed up to meet me and that was it. Having found my footing I’d hoped for more and left the book feeling a bit unsatisfied like after a too small bowl of ramen (if you’ll pardon the tad on the nose metaphor)
Like Jill Alexander Essbaum’s Hausfrau, where the rules of grammar spill into the how that narrator navigates her relationships in the real world, our narrator here can’t help but throw out scientific asides. But it just wasn’t gelling for me until I got past the halfway point. I started to find my bearings - or maybe our narrator managed to draw on some meagre strength of her own that helped straighten out the narrative.
And then I took a two week break from the book. It’s not that big a book either. On my return the ending rushed up to meet me and that was it. Having found my footing I’d hoped for more and left the book feeling a bit unsatisfied like after a too small bowl of ramen (if you’ll pardon the tad on the nose metaphor)
July 1, 2017
Chemistry was without a doubt my worst subject in high school. I have such a lingering resentment toward it that I almost dismissed Chemistry the novel for its title alone, but I was able to put my hatred of the subject aside long enough to really enjoy this - though I'm not sure 'enjoy' is the right word. This is an incredibly intense book, and I felt like I wasn't able to truly come up for air until I'd finished it.
Chemistry is The Bell Jar meets The Vegetarian but also something a bit lighter, quirkier. It doesn't indulge in the same gory details of the two I just compared it to - this isn't a book about psychiatric wards and forced hospitalization. Our unnamed narrator begins seeing a psychiatrist of her own free will, tries to make sense of the reason she can't seem to commit to her long-term boyfriend, or the reason she just walked out on her PhD program at a prestigious university in Boston. It's about her journey learning to trust, learning to give herself to another person while not compromising what she was raised to believe.
Weike Wang takes the traditional disintegrating mental health narrative and propels it into uncharted territory, by chronicling the mental breakdown of a young Asian American woman. The novel examines the ways that her upbringing - born in China, raised in the U.S. by Chinese immigrant parents - influenced the way she navigates adulthood, and the struggles that have arisen for her because of it.
The prose is spare and concise, but it isn't simplistic. This is a very technically well crafted book, which plays with a fusion of tenses, past and present narratives often coexisting in a single paragraph. Though the large font and just-barely-200-pages makes it tempting to breeze through this, speed read Chemistry at your own peril. This is such a richly detailed book that you need to really slow yourself down in order to get everything out of it that Wang intended.
This book won't work for everyone. It's very light on plot and heavy on character analysis, full of razor sharp commentary on parental expectations and academic pressure. It's definitely one of these books that's going to appeal the most to people who have been in similar situations as the narrator, whether it's being raised in the U.S. by Chinese parents (which does not apply to me) or having struggled with mental health while in an intensive academic setting (which definitely applies to me), so if you read this summary and think 'there's nothing here for me,' chances are, there probably won't be. But if you see even a fraction of yourself reflected in the narrator's circumstances, this can be a very intense and harrowing read, though one that's not without an underlying glimmer of hope.
Chemistry is The Bell Jar meets The Vegetarian but also something a bit lighter, quirkier. It doesn't indulge in the same gory details of the two I just compared it to - this isn't a book about psychiatric wards and forced hospitalization. Our unnamed narrator begins seeing a psychiatrist of her own free will, tries to make sense of the reason she can't seem to commit to her long-term boyfriend, or the reason she just walked out on her PhD program at a prestigious university in Boston. It's about her journey learning to trust, learning to give herself to another person while not compromising what she was raised to believe.
Weike Wang takes the traditional disintegrating mental health narrative and propels it into uncharted territory, by chronicling the mental breakdown of a young Asian American woman. The novel examines the ways that her upbringing - born in China, raised in the U.S. by Chinese immigrant parents - influenced the way she navigates adulthood, and the struggles that have arisen for her because of it.
The prose is spare and concise, but it isn't simplistic. This is a very technically well crafted book, which plays with a fusion of tenses, past and present narratives often coexisting in a single paragraph. Though the large font and just-barely-200-pages makes it tempting to breeze through this, speed read Chemistry at your own peril. This is such a richly detailed book that you need to really slow yourself down in order to get everything out of it that Wang intended.
This book won't work for everyone. It's very light on plot and heavy on character analysis, full of razor sharp commentary on parental expectations and academic pressure. It's definitely one of these books that's going to appeal the most to people who have been in similar situations as the narrator, whether it's being raised in the U.S. by Chinese parents (which does not apply to me) or having struggled with mental health while in an intensive academic setting (which definitely applies to me), so if you read this summary and think 'there's nothing here for me,' chances are, there probably won't be. But if you see even a fraction of yourself reflected in the narrator's circumstances, this can be a very intense and harrowing read, though one that's not without an underlying glimmer of hope.
January 3, 2019
This was fine - a short, quick read that follows a chemistry PhD as she struggles with her next steps in life. I liked the writing style and was drawn into the family drama, but ultimately the story was fairly bland and it didn't leave enough of an impression on me. I think this book could be great if you were in the right mood to really sink into the writing and inhabit the main character, who is by turns inspiring and frustrating. It will also depend on how you feel about the science metaphors on every other page. Some felt important and true, while others felt gimmicky. At least it's a different flavor of MFA writing.
The family and the story of the second-generation immigrant is what made this book different, at least for me, and so I didn't need to end on ; I wanted something more with the parents. I particularly liked all of the musings on language and how it impacted the different relationships - the conversation between Eric and the mother was my favorite, and I liked that her cousin had to tell her how to say "cool" in Mandarin ("you talk like your parents! old-fashioned!"). I realize that the romantic relationships interact with the familial relationships, and , but I just found the exploration of identity so interesting that I wish more of the book had focused more on that.
I would recommend this if you liked My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
The family and the story of the second-generation immigrant is what made this book different, at least for me, and so I didn't need to end on ; I wanted something more with the parents. I particularly liked all of the musings on language and how it impacted the different relationships - the conversation between Eric and the mother was my favorite, and I liked that her cousin had to tell her how to say "cool" in Mandarin ("you talk like your parents! old-fashioned!"). I realize that the romantic relationships interact with the familial relationships, and , but I just found the exploration of identity so interesting that I wish more of the book had focused more on that.
I would recommend this if you liked My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
January 22, 2025
Eric has said that I carry close to my chest a ball of barbed wire that I sometimes throw at other people.
This was an absolutely fantastic piece of literary fiction.
Chemistry is, I think at its heart, a book about the conflict between an intellectual and cognitive-first approach to life and a feelings-driven approach to life, in someone at a crossroads between both; thinking vs. feeling. As Joce @SquibbleReads articulates, the narrator is the daughter of parents who were raised in a nation with a highly collectivist lens on life and moved to a hyper-individualistic one. When her not-fiance and fellow scientist Eric continuously asks her to prioritize herself and set boundaries with her parents, she's unable to do so, and his continued attempts to force the issue only create a wedge between the two.
And one more thing: The ending is a brilliant moment of satisfaction that gives deep hope.
Weike Wang writes in a choppy style that works perfectly for this narrator. I'll definitely keep an eye on her coming up.
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June 23, 2017
Take an unnamed narrator – the daughter of Chinese immigrants and a chemistry Ph.D. student – with a compellingly fresh and authentic voice. Add in a ton of ambivalence that reveals itself in her conflicted attitude toward her career and her love life. Toss is a bit of arcane chemistry trivia and some profound comments about creating a life with meaning.
What you end up with is sheer chemistry, and Weike Wang succeeds in crafting a book that’s genuinely soul-searching and compelling, a book that captivated me from the very first sentence.
The young 20-something narrator is trying to balance her own personal reality with unrealistic expectations from a demanding mother and father, her prestigious Boston-based chemistry program, and Eric, her wunderkind boyfriend, destined for career stardom, who can’t understand her aversion to committing to a future together.
At times wry, at times comedic, the book achieves an unexpected poignancy as the narrator wrestles with the possibilities and self-created obstacles that compose her life. The metaphor is clear: replicating known reactions in the science of chemistry have no bearing on the chemistry of personal relationships and of life in general. As the tormented narrator wrestles with the weight of parental expectations and career aspirations, Eric – who was lovingly supported and cheered on by his own caring parents – finds the path forward much easier.
For anyone who has encountered a fork in the road and asks, “What do I really want”, this disarming book will resonate. I loved the freshness and honesty that called out to me from every page. 4.5,
What you end up with is sheer chemistry, and Weike Wang succeeds in crafting a book that’s genuinely soul-searching and compelling, a book that captivated me from the very first sentence.
The young 20-something narrator is trying to balance her own personal reality with unrealistic expectations from a demanding mother and father, her prestigious Boston-based chemistry program, and Eric, her wunderkind boyfriend, destined for career stardom, who can’t understand her aversion to committing to a future together.
At times wry, at times comedic, the book achieves an unexpected poignancy as the narrator wrestles with the possibilities and self-created obstacles that compose her life. The metaphor is clear: replicating known reactions in the science of chemistry have no bearing on the chemistry of personal relationships and of life in general. As the tormented narrator wrestles with the weight of parental expectations and career aspirations, Eric – who was lovingly supported and cheered on by his own caring parents – finds the path forward much easier.
For anyone who has encountered a fork in the road and asks, “What do I really want”, this disarming book will resonate. I loved the freshness and honesty that called out to me from every page. 4.5,
January 11, 2022
⭐ 3.33 stars
I'm very much in like with this book and I'm not surprised by the sheer number of those who love it. I liked the journal/stream of consciousness style of the writing. The peppering of interesting science facts throughout and the way Wang gently interrogated her relationships and childhood. I've been trying to figure out why I didn't love it and I think it's because I've read some incredibly creative books in this vein in the last 9 months and it suffered in comparison.
I especially recommend this to fans of YA fiction who maybe want to dip their toe in adult literary fiction. This book is an excellent primer.
sculptor: xiang jing
I'm very much in like with this book and I'm not surprised by the sheer number of those who love it. I liked the journal/stream of consciousness style of the writing. The peppering of interesting science facts throughout and the way Wang gently interrogated her relationships and childhood. I've been trying to figure out why I didn't love it and I think it's because I've read some incredibly creative books in this vein in the last 9 months and it suffered in comparison.
I especially recommend this to fans of YA fiction who maybe want to dip their toe in adult literary fiction. This book is an excellent primer.
sculptor: xiang jing
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