a unique, poetic letter from a son to his mother who can't read. this book covers a lot of topic like the Vietnam war, abuse, homosexuality, grief and drug addiction. the sequence of events is not linear though so might leave you confused of what's happening. might be too graphic or brutal to some people (especially the part about the monkeys...) so you might want to read some reviews first if you're sensitive to these… the poetic writing style is sometimes hard to digest/understand for me but i think it's worth a read at least once!

took me nearly a month to finish this book... i loved The Man Called Ove so i was quite excited to read this one but the overall storyline and characters are just too similar, Britt-Marie is just a female version of Ove to me. unpopular opinion but i feel the book's quite boring, especially the first half.. i needed to force myself to pick up the book and continue reading after putting it down 🙂‍↔️ i enjoyed how Britt-Marie transformed into her own person throughout the story though! that's what saved this book for me

the 4 reviews written on the cover are true-sparks joy, thought-provoking, timeless, unputdownable.

set in the 1950s-1960s, the story follows Elizabeth, a chemist trying to navigate a male-dominated world, facing discrimination and inequality in every turn. after being fired for ridiculous reasons, she reluctantly became a host of a cooking show where she empowered women through her unique approach to cooking.

grabbed my attention from the very first few pages! the gender inequality in the 50s-60s portrayed in the book was absurd, but how far have we come, really? think gender pay gap, sex crimes, and the inadequate law to protect women. how many more years do we need for men and women to be viewed as complete equals?