Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜
Title: Anatomy: A Love Story
Author: Dana Schwartz
Genre: YA / Historical Fiction
Setting: Edinburgh, Scotland
Month Read: March 2022
Book Type: Audiobook
Publication: 2022
Publisher: Wednesday / Macmillan
Pages: 338
* March Books and Brews Book Club Pick
TRIGGER WARNING-
Death / Gore / Surgery / Cadavers
"It was an impossible situation, a trick of society as a whole: force women to live at the mercy of whichever man wants them but shame them for anything they might do to get a man to want them."
No Spoiler Summary:
In 1817 Edinburgh, Hazel Sinnett is a lady, but she wants to be a Doctor. She doesn't care for marriage, especially the one arranged to her cousin since their births. She wants to read, to learn, to do surgery, and other procedures that women of the time shouldn't even be thinking of.
Jack is a resurrection man, doing what he can to survive day to day where it is certainly not easy o be poor.
When the two meet, they realize they can each help each other reach goals that might have seemed impossible just before. When Hazel can't practice medicine in classes because she's a woman, she's mighty lucky to know someone who digs up bodies for a living.
Review:
I'm a huge fan of Dana's podcast Noble Blood, and when I heard she had a new book coming out I preordered it fast. I ended up having a pretty hard time getting into it, and regret going audiobook over physical book (which I think I would have liked a lot more.)
I liked the characters, and the plot was really interested and different from what I'm used to reading (especially in YA), but the ending realllllllllly took me out of the novel. The last third, maybe?, felt rushed, and out of place, and I wish so badly that we didn't introduce magic into the end. It was not the right choice for me, and invalidated a lot of the storyline that I was enjoying beforehand.
I don't want to spoil anything, so I need to keep this vague, but I really wish we could have a spinoff novel about Dr. Beecham. Such a weird, interesting character, and I'd like to jump into his head more than any other character we were introduced to in this book (since we got a lot of Hazel and snippits of Jack).
Overall, most people at bookclub rated this book a 4, and that's one of our higher rated picks recently! I'm glad I jumped out of my literary comfort zone and tried something new, as well.
Recommendation:
This isn't really my typical genre, so not sure what to recommend, but if you liked this book you'll love the podcast Noble Blood, which Dana Schwartz made and hosts. :)
"Someone should tell you you're beautiful every time the sun comes up. Someone should tell you you're beautiful on Wednesdays. And at teatime. Someone should tell you you're beautiful on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve and the evening before Christmas Eve, and on Easter. He should tell you on Guy Fawkes Night and on New Year's, and on the eighth of August, just because."
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