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.
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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