A review by sunnybopeep
Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

2.25

Some parts of this were charming, but overall, it wasn’t great. I thought the romance was cute in a very basic “girl meets boy and they get into shenanigans” kind of way. Towards the end, it seemed to be trying for more depth… but didn’t quite manage. I liked Hazel and Jack’s small interactions and childish flirting. I thought the incest was completely unnecessary. The newspaper and reference book excerpts were forgettable, and I didn’t think they suited the tone of the rest of the book. For historical fiction, it didn’t seem thoroughly researched. This was definitely one of those books that relied on “shock factor” and a few gruesome descriptions, but they weren’t impactful because the grotesqueness was a little soft. The writing was neither particularly good nor distinctive, but it wasn’t so bad that it detracted from the fairly interesting plot. I also thought that the ending was a little wishy-washy, like the author couldn’t decide between a happy one and a tragic one so she stuffed them both in the book. All in all, the total package was interesting but undeniably juvenile.
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