anatomy: a love story by dana shwartz
Nov. 29th, 2024 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xoxxaxei was supposed to review this book on my private instagram stories BUT i admit i’ve already reviewed it on fable last night soooooo it’s more convenient for me to paste the review and modify it here. so to start with, i don’t know if you remember it, this the book we’re talking about:
the beginning of the book was easy to get into. i was very intrigued by hazel and what she wanted for her, the fact that she obviously wants more for herself than being a stay at home wife, parading in balls. it is a bit cliché because she corresponds to everything you would predict of a girl who does not desire to be married even though it is her "duty" to do so. her relationship with her mother is not the best, she struggles with getting attention from (she gets none tbh). many people said that the book was quite slow and i don’t think it was slow. i think every information given is more lore to the story and its interesting but on the contrary’ i think the end was pretty quick. it seemed wrapped up.
smart guy. it is not a slow burn romance either that’s for sure. they fall quite quickly in love and at first i thought i was a bit corny. it’s like, they kiss and then they have no doubt, they’re in love and we don’t talk about it anymore. but i liked the way he took care of her and would always listen to her, calling her ’my love‘. he is sweet.
this the resume by goodreads to situate you: Edinburg’s, 1817. Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.
Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.
When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, the university will allow her to enroll. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need bodies to study, corpses to dissect.
Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living, then. But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets. Hazel and Jack work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.
A gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living, and the buried secrets they must uncover together.
Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.
When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, the university will allow her to enroll. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need bodies to study, corpses to dissect.
Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living, then. But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets. Hazel and Jack work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.
A gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living, and the buried secrets they must uncover together.
THIS MAY CONTAINS SPOILERS DONT READ FURTHER IF YOU DONT WANNA BE SPOILED
the beginning of the book was easy to get into. i was very intrigued by hazel and what she wanted for her, the fact that she obviously wants more for herself than being a stay at home wife, parading in balls. it is a bit cliché because she corresponds to everything you would predict of a girl who does not desire to be married even though it is her "duty" to do so. her relationship with her mother is not the best, she struggles with getting attention from (she gets none tbh). many people said that the book was quite slow and i don’t think it was slow. i think every information given is more lore to the story and its interesting but on the contrary’ i think the end was pretty quick. it seemed wrapped up.
“In a brief flash of ecstatic hope he imagined that maybe? the knocking was Hazel, that she had come to find him, to run away with him. The memory of their kiss still lingered on his lips, the joy of it, the hidden thrill, and also the terror.”
i do think the book lacks of jack’s thoughts and feelings. his "in-depth" (if we could it that way) characterization comes way after and i would’ve loved to be more in his head. he seems like a very fun and a
smart guy. it is not a slow burn romance either that’s for sure. they fall quite quickly in love and at first i thought i was a bit corny. it’s like, they kiss and then they have no doubt, they’re in love and we don’t talk about it anymore. but i liked the way he took care of her and would always listen to her, calling her ’my love‘. he is sweet.
then, about the investigation case, the mystery story, i was bit disappointed i gotta say because well idk i thought there would more suspense as to who is the killer. she felt it from the beginning and turns out it was actually him. i felt like they solved it pretty quick. but dammit the rest did not disappoint me, the reason why he does it and the madness of this man is unbelievable. bernard (her piece of shit fiancé) was, as we expected, a piece of shit. the 10 last pages left me in a soft warm sadness that somehow felt familiar. i felt how crushed she was but i also felt the overbearing sadness in her heart.
i am still eager to read the second book to see what’s next for them!
no subject
Date: 2025-03-13 03:37 pm (UTC)i would've never thought the book was about this kind of subjects, i prolly would've been eager to read it, like it gives gothic allan poe vibz idk, obv its been said so in the summary
love how u articulated ur thoughts around it, enjoyed reading ur pov A LOT!
no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 03:32 pm (UTC)indeed!! it reminded me of poe’s universe but less extreme i’d say