Chemistry

LoveReading Says

Marianne is the perfect daughter, perfect student, and perfect girlfriend. And she’s on her way to a breakdown. Compared to the accomplishments of her Chinese parents and her brilliant boyfriend, she’s failing. Her Ph.D. research is not going well, and she worries: did she actually choose Chemistry and a life in academia or did she blindly pursue what her parents wanted her to?

Is she Chinese enough for her family? Is she American enough for her co-workers? I understood. I was born to Indian parents but felt foreign among other Indians. I spoke perfect English but never felt comfortable in American circles either. I had no desire to go to medical, biz or law school like other Asians, but I had no idea what else I wanted to do with my life.

Marianne’s “otherness” was my “otherness,” and her rejection of the life others imagined for her is my rejection as well.

Guest Editor Alka Joshi

LoveReading

About Chemistry

A young female scientist - tormented by her failed research and the looming marriage proposal from her devoted boyfriend - is 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 analysed; one that can be studied only in the mysterious language of the heart.

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