I hadn't given any thought to Lessons in Chemistry because the cover screamed "romance," so I never bothered to find out what it was about. To your point on marketing, I wonder if - given the size and commercial success of the romance genre - for every reader like me that dismissed it, 3 or 5 (or 10) readers were "duped" into picking it up and enjoyed the book regardless of genre? A terrible way to think about art, but I'm sure someone did the cost-benefit analysis on finding "buyers" vs. finding "readers."
I hadn't given any thought to Lessons in Chemistry because the cover screamed "romance," so I never bothered to find out what it was about. To your point on marketing, I wonder if - given the size and commercial success of the romance genre - for every reader like me that dismissed it, 3 or 5 (or 10) readers were "duped" into picking it up and enjoyed the book regardless of genre? A terrible way to think about art, but I'm sure someone did the cost-benefit analysis on finding "buyers" vs. finding "readers."
Yes, I didn't either until my wife read it and was baffled that it just didn't match the cover.
And I'm certain there was a cost-benefit analysis at play. Interestingly, the UK cover is quite different: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-Chemistry-Debut-Bonnie-Garmus/dp/0857528122. But it's still only blurbed on the front cover by women.
Art and business often clash in publishing.