Chemistry

A Washington Post Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Ann Patchett on PBS NewsHour, Minnesota Public Radio, PopSugar, Maris Kreizman, The Morning News

Winner of Ploughshares’ John C. Zacharis Award

At first glance, the quirky, overworked narrator of Weike Wang’s debut novel seems to be on the cusp of a perfect life: her successful, supportive boyfriend has just proposed to her, and she is studying for a prestigious PhD in chemistry that will make her Chinese parents proud (or at least satisfied). But instead of feeling happy and hopeful, she is wracked with ambivalence and stress: she doesn’t know how to answer her boyfriend’s marriage question, her research at the lab is foundering, and the long hours and high expectations of her program comprise an exquisite pressure cooker. When it all becomes too much and she begins breaking beakers and threatening to open the argon box to air, her life plan veers off course—and onto a new path of questions, possibilities, and discoveries about everyone and everything she thought she knew. Smart, insightful, moving, and always funny, Chemistry is a unique and contemporary coming-of-age story that is sure to evoke a winning reaction.

About Weike Wang On Tour
Weike 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 literary magazines, including Alaska Quarterly Review, Glimmer Train, and others.