anatomy of love book review

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ANATOMY OF LOVE

The natural history of monogamy, adultery, and divorce.

by Helen E. Fisher ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1992

Fisher (The Sex Contract, 1981)—research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, former ``house anthropologist'' for The Today Show, and one of our best science-popularizers—may find a large readership for her subject here: the influence of evolutionary biology and genetics on sex, love, marriage, divorce, and today's family. Among the more controversial ideas: that divorce rates (which regularly peak at four years of marriage) are an evolutionary legacy from when early humans formed monogamous bonds until offspring were past infancy, after which parents were free to go their separate ways; that hormones ``sex'' the fetal brain with resulting differences between males and females that may even encourage (though not determine) such apparently male psychological traits as compartmentalization and hierarchy-creation. (Fisher stresses that cultural and societal values play an important role as well: Genetic legacy provides a natural inclination, not an imperative.) While acknowledging the pain of divorce and of the splitting of families, Fisher argues that the stable, nuclear family is more a historical aberration than a norm, and that ``blended'' families, the rise of ``working'' women, and greater equality between the sexes represent a return to tradition. The author is an engaging guide on visits to hunter-gatherer cultures, singles bars, cross-cultural adolescence, chimpanzee social politics, and more. Theories based on prehistoric reconstruction, ethnographies, and comparisons with other species are bound to require large speculative leaps: Fisher's provocative ideas are no exception. Many will be convinced by her knowledgeable, persuasive, and entertaining discussion—and the more skeptical will find fascinating tidbits for thought along the way.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-393-03423-2

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992

CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | GENERAL CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES

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A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

by Howard Zinn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1979

For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History ). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979

ISBN: 0061965588

Page Count: 772

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979

GENERAL HISTORY | GENERAL CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | UNITED STATES | POLITICS | HISTORY

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by Howard Zinn ; adapted by Rebecca Stefoff with by Ed Morales

by Howard Zinn with Ray Suarez

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WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR

by Paul Kalanithi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 19, 2016

A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...

A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.

Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”

Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015

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About the author  (2016).

Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist, is the author of five internationally selling books, including Why We Love and Why Him? Why Her? A Senior Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute, a member of the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies at Rutgers University, and the chief scientific advisor to Match.com, Fisher is a frequent national and international speaker. Her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people; and she lives in New York City.

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Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray Paperback – Jan. 3 1994

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• Print length 432 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Ballantine Books
• Publication date Jan. 3 1994
• Dimensions 14.61 x 1.91 x 20.96 cm
• ISBN-10 0449908976
• ISBN-13 978-0449908976
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books; 3rd Edition (Jan. 3 1994)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0449908976
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0449908976
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 340 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.61 x 1.91 x 20.96 cm
• #1,400 in Social Customs & Traditions (Books)
• #6,011 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences
• #7,017 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)

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Helen Fisher, PhD

ANATOMY OF LOVE: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray

First published in 1992, Helen Fisher’s “fascinating” (New York Times) Anatomy of Love was a New York Times “Notable Book” and became a classic.  Since then, Fisher has conducted pioneering brain research (using fMRI) on lust, romantic love, and attachment; gathered data on more than 28,000 people to explain why you love who you love; and collected scientific information on more than 50,000 men and women on sexting, hooking up, friends with benefits, video chatting and other current trends in courtship, sex, love and marriage.  

So in this second edition, she presents a host of new, scientifically based data on the evolution and future of human social life and an optimistic perspective on relationships in our digital age, what she calls “slow love.”

This cutting-edge tour de force traces human family life from its origins in Africa over 4 million years ago to the Internet dating sites and bedrooms of today.  It’s got it all: the copulatory gaze, the four-part flirt and other natural courting ploys; the who, when, where, and why of adultery; love addictions; her discovery of four broad chemically-based personality styles and what each seeks in romance; the newest data on worldwide (biologically based) patterns of divorce; how and why men and women think differently; the real story of women, men, and power; the rise and fall of the sexual double standard; and what brain science tells us about how to make and keep a happy partnership.

A contemporary classic about love now completely revised and updated.  All publications of Anatomy of Love: in 24 countries

“This book is a marvel… So illuminating.”  John Gottman

“Is romantic love a creation of troubadours and poets, or has it deep evolutionary roots? Is the seven-year itch really the four-year itch? Does true love betray itself in a brain scanner? With the eyes of an anthropologist and the voice of a poet, Helen Fisher lays bare the many worlds and ages of erotic love. And she knows whereof she speaks.” — Richard Dawkins.

“For journalists around the world, Helen Fisher has been the go-to authority on love and heartache since the first edition of Anatomy of Love. No one else knows the human heart so well or explains it with such wit and style.” — John Tierney, coauthor of Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

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ISBN: 0449908976

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Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray

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From love at first sight and infidelity to hook-up culture and "slow love," Dr. Helen Fisher, the biological anthropologist and "renowned expert on the science of love" (Scientific American), explains... This description may be from another edition of this product.

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75% science 25% speculation **caution**, unbiased review, intriguing read, an honest look at love, an honest and refreshing view of love and sex, popular categories.

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Anatomy, A Love Story (Review, Recap & Full Summary)

By dana schwartz.

Book review, full book summary and synopsis for Anatomy, A Love Story by Dana Schwartz, a historical fiction novel set in Scotland in the early 1800s about a girl who dreams of becoming a surgeon.

(The Full Plot Summary is also available, below)

Full Plot Summary

In 1817 in Scotland, Hazel is a 17-year-old upper-class girl who is meant to marry her cousin Bernard , a future Viscount, but dreams of being a surgeon. Dressed as a man, Hazel secretly starts attending anatomy classes taught by Dr. Beecham until she is exposed as a girl.

While she's not longer permitted to attend class, Dr. Beecham agrees to allow her to take the physician's test, if she can learn the material herself, to become qualified if she passes. Meanwhile, among the poor in town, people have been suspiciously disappearing, including one of Jack's friends, Munroe . There's also a disease going around, the Roman fever, which is causing havoc and mass deaths.

Hazel starts working with a grave-snatcher, Jack , to illegally procure corpses to study with. The two begin to fall for each other. She also starts treating patients (by turning her castle into a makeshift hospital) while her family is away. Jack points out folk remedy, wort flower, to Hazel which she uses to treat patients with Roman fever and it seems to show some promising results. One day, Munroe resurfaces, but he is missing an arm. He indicates that he was kidnapped and a doctor removed his arm without his consent.

The day of Hazel's test she catches a glimpse of Dr. Beecham performing an eye transplant using an involuntary donor. She then sees that he's abducted Jack as well. Before he can kill Jack, Hazel is able to get them both free. Knowing that Dr. Beecham has been abducting the poor in order to use them for body parts and to practice transplant surgeries, she asks Bernard for his help in alerting the authorities. However, Bernard betrays her and has Jack arrested, being accused of the murder of various missing people. Jack is found guilty.

Hazel confronts Dr. Beecham, who is unapologetic. She has also discovered that he is immortal, and Dr. Beecham admits it's true. Dr. Beecham prepares to go to America to get a fresh start, and he offers Hazel a vial of his immortality tonic, saying he thinks she can make good use of it.

Hazel decides to give it to Jack. He is hanged but doesn't die. Hazel wants them to be together, but Jack knows he will be on the run indefinitely and he knows Hazel cannot pursue her dreams while on the run. Instead, Hazel continues treating patients from her home, and Jack disappears. The book ends with Hazel receiving a letter (presumably from Jack) some time later that's sent from New York, saying that he still loves her and is waiting her her.

For more detail, see the full Chapter-by-Chapter Summary .

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Book Review

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz was recently released and chosen as Reese’s Book Club Pick for January 2022. The book was marketed as a Gothic novel, but I think that description is incorrect (as discussed further below). Instead, I’d say that it’s a historical fiction novel with some romance mixed in.

Set in 18th century Scotland, Anatomy: A Love Story follows an upper class 17-year-old girl named Hazel who dreams of being a surgeon. In this time period, surgery was a nascent field that was considered brutish and low class, and human specimens used to practice on were often stole from graves by men referred to as “resurrection men”.

Anatomy offers a quickly paced and page-turner type narrative as Hazel and Jack, a a resurrection man, try to procure bodies for use in her studies. Meanwhile, the poor in town are disappearing mysteriously.

The time period it’s set in feels naturally compelling, and Scwartz has come up with a interesting array of characters to populate her story.

Some Criticisms

As previously discussed, I wouldn’t describe this as a Gothic novel at all. The main character of Hazel is a privileged girl who spends most of the time doing whatever she pleases in her lovely, safe home helped by her maid and Cook who she trusts and who care about her. There’s a sense of freedom and breeziness that is distinctly un-Gothic.

Sure, there’s some graverobbing mixed up in there, but the general tone of the novel is not Gothic. The most Gothic part of this book is that Blackletter font used on the cover.

As a historical fiction novel, it didn’t really have enough of a sense of atmosphere or compelling details to really draw me into the story. Most of the historical details are very generic, and basically all the specific historical details included in the story can be found in the UK section of the Wikipedia page about body snatching .

As I was reading, the name Hazel for the main character felt a little anachronistic to me, considering she was meant to have been born in the year 1799 or 1800. After some Googling, it appears the name originates in England and eventually spread to Scotland as well, but even in the mid-1800s it was still exceedingly rare to be used as a first name, with the earliest documented use being the birth of 4 “Hazel”s born between 1840-1850 in the UK . According to Wikipedia , the name wasn’t really commonly used as a first name until the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Overall, I would say that for the most part I was underwhelmed by this story. Then, there’s also a final plot twist that I thought was totally out of left field and the story gets pretty nonsensical. At that point, I lost interest in it completely but I only had a handful of chapters left so I went ahead and finished it.

Author Dana Schwartz

Read it or Skip it?

Anatomy: A Love story is an easy and quick read with a page-turner type feel, set in a context (graverobbers, early medicine and cobblestone streets!) that seems naturally compelling. However, the largely predictable plot, lack of atmosphere and the silly ending meant that it wound up feeling very generic and forgettable to me.

I also would not describe it as a Gothic novel, since there’s a breezy, carefree aspect of the novel that doesn’t seem very Gothic. I also would not recommend this as a book club read, as there isn’t too much substance there to be discussed. I suppose you could discuss whether you thought the ending was ridiculous or not, since I imagine opinions will be split on this one.

See Anatomy: A Love story on Amazon.

Anatomy: A Love Story Audiobook Review

Narrated by : Mhairi Morrison & Tim Campbell Length : 9 hours 34 minutes

Hear a sample of the Anatomy: A Love Story audiobook on Libro.fm.

Book Excerpt

Read the first pages of Anatomy, A Love Story

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REVIEW: Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

I’ve read two previous books by Dana Schwartz, Choose Your Own Disaster and The White Man’s Guide to White Male Writers of the Western Canon . Both were non-fiction(ish?) – the first a memoir with a “Choose Your Own Adventure” conceit and the second a satirical look at famous authors from the persona of Schwartz’ @GuyInYourMFA twitter account. I also enjoy her podcast Noble Blood , though I am waaay behind on it (it’s a mystery to me how people manage to make time in their lives for podcasts).

Anyway, when I heard she had a young adult book coming out and read the blurb, I was excited. Even moreso when I saw the beautiful cover. Suffice to say, I was jazzed to read this.

Aforementioned blurb:

Edinburgh, 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, Beecham will allow her to continue her medical career. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need corpses to study.

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, and the dreaded Roman Fever, which wiped out thousands a few years ago, is back with a vengeance. Nobody important cares – until Hazel.

Now, Hazel and Jack must work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.

So, Hazel is a lady; I think she’s about 19. She’s engaged-to-be-engaged to marry a cousin, who is appropriately boorish (but could probably be worse as far as boorish cousins/fiances go; I’ve read so many). When we first meet Hazel she is attempting to reanimate a dead frog. She has always been interested in medical matters and has longed to have the opportunity to study to be a doctor, but her gender and her class present considerable barriers.

Hazel lives with her mother and younger brother in a castle near Edinburgh; her father is off guarding Napoleon on St. Helena for the Royal Navy. Her beloved older brother died from the same “Roman Fever” that Hazel recovered from, and ever since her mother has been super-protective of Hazel’s younger brother and neglectful of Hazel (presumably her gender makes her not worth worrying about).

A note on the “Roman Fever”: the internet mostly points me to the Edith Wharton story of the same name, and other references suggest it’s another name for either malaria or pneumonia. In the course of this story, it seems like perhaps a fictitious ailment somewhat similar to bubonic plague.

When we first meet Jack, he’s robbing a grave. It’s distasteful work (more on that in a bit), and I had to give some thought to the moral implications. As presented in the story, the graverobbers strip the bodies because if they take anything *other* than the body they can be charged with theft, which is a more serious charge than just graverobbing. Families of the recently deceased do take measures to prevent the desecration of their loved ones’ remains (putting a concrete slab over the coffin was one popular option).

I guess I kind of disapprove of graverobbing on the grounds that you’re potentially giving pain to the recently bereaved. While I find it very yucky (again, more on that), I don’t think it really matters to the person who is dead. And: 1) doctors and students did need bodies to learn from that were well nigh impossible to get at that time and 2) graverobbers needed money to survive.

Whereas I had previously, if ever gave it any thought, felt that graverobbers of past centuries were Not Good People, I am willing to aver that the truth is more complicated. For the purposes of the story, Jack is really quite decent and not even all that hardened given the circumstances of his life. He is also about 19.

So, the story: as blurbed, Hazel and Jack meet and then meet again, and she starts using him to provide bodies. She has first started to attend Dr. Beecham’s lectures disguised as a male, but is found out fairly quickly. Hazel and Jack develop a friendship and when his gravedigging partner mysteriously disappears (dun-dun-dun!), Hazel even accompanies Jack on his nocturnal missions.

All this stretches credulity quite a bit – not that Hazel is intent on becoming a doctor, because history serves up plenty of examples of women ahead of their time. But it seems unlikely that she’d be left to her own devices to such a degree as she is (her mother, spooked by the return of the fever to Edinburgh, whisks Hazel’s brother to Bath, leaving Hazel alone). Even though she lives in a castle, the only staff appear to be Hazel’s maid and one footman, both of whom abet Hazel when she starts bringing stiffs into the castle’s dungeon (!) and cutting them up.

Ultimately, my bigger issue with this book was really my own fault – I didn’t really think about how squeamish I am. I find the subject matter interesting but I have probably too faint a heart for the nitty gritty – sights and smells are described in a fair amount of detail. I ended up feeling somewhat alienated from Hazel as a character because I didn’t *understand* how she wasn’t grossed out by it all (I judged Jack less harshly because it wasn’t like he got into dealing with dead bodies because he wanted to).

I mean it when I say – this was my issue. I fully acknowledge that the world needs people willing to do all sorts of things that I find gross. But I do wish I’d understood Hazel better – maybe I needed more background on how and why she became so fascinated with human anatomy. I didn’t dislike Hazel, but I found Jack both more likable and relatable.

My last complaint is that there are unexpected fantastical elements introduced late in the story that I really wasn’t expecting and didn’t feel were necessary to the story. I think there may be a sequel, and these elements do intrigue me in regards to what direction the story will take. But I wish the turn into fantasy/sci-fi (sort of? I don’t really know what to call it) had been better telegraphed. In retrospect, there were a couple of things that didn’t really make sense for a story grounded in reality, but these were too subtle for me.

This is one of those books/reviews where I have more to say about the things I didn’t like than the things I did, making it sound like I *really* didn’t like the book, which isn’t quite the case. Complaints aside, this was well written and the setting and characters interested me. I enjoyed Anatomy: A Love Story enough to give it a B grade, and I will very likely pick up the sequel; I think knowing about some of the things that bothered me in this book will make me less likely to be bothered in the next one.

Best, Jennie

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has been an avid if often frustrated romance reader for the past 15 years. In that time she's read a lot of good romances, a few great ones, and, unfortunately, a whole lot of dreck. Many of her favorite authors (Ivory, Kinsale, Gaffney, Williamson, Ibbotson) have moved onto other genres or produce new books only rarely, so she's had to expand her horizons a bit. Newer authors she enjoys include Julie Ann Long, Megan Hart and J.R. Ward, and she eagerly anticipates each new Sookie Stackhouse novel. Strong prose and characterization go a long way with her, though if they are combined with an unusual plot or setting, all the better. When she's not reading romance she can usually be found reading historical non-fiction.

I got almost all the way through this book before bailing out. The disintegrating corpse dissections were hard to read but it was the rampant historical anachronisms and continuity issues that made it a hot mess for me. Was this supposed to be set in an alternate universe and I missed that info?

Thanks for your review, Jennie. I’m not into gore, so I will be passing on this. I do admire the cover! I wonder what the cover of the follow on book will look like.

@ Jayne : I think there were some (too) subtle signs that the world wasn’t exactly like ours. The anachronisms seemed weird – Schwartz being the driving force behind Noble Blood, which requires a lot of historical research for most episodes makes me think that they were deliberate. I remember the early-ish tooth scene and kind of just gliding over that with a, “huh, that’s weird.”

@ Kareni : It’s such a gorgeous and clever cover! I hope the sequel matches it somehow.

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Book Reviews

'anatomy' is a gothic love story stirring up mystery and medicine.

Ilana Masad

If you've ever had an operation, it's highly likely an anesthetic was in use, whether local or general. Imagine, for a moment, what that operation would have been like without it. Horrible, right?

In Western medicine, at least, chemical compounds like chloroform and ether were first used as anesthetic in the 1840s, according to The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Surgery , and before that, "surgical operations were conducted with little or no pain relief and were attended with great suffering and emotional distress." Among the various men who pioneered different methods is one Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, a "Scottish obstetrician who was the first to use chloroform in obstetrics and the first in Britain to use ether," according to the Encyclopedia Britannica .

I suspect that Dana Schwartz — author, internet personality, and host of the history podcast Noble Blood — may have been aware of this man, for she's created a deliciously macabre fictional predecessor in her new novel, Anatomy: A Love Story , already chosen for Reese Witherspoon's YA Book Club.

It's 1817 in Edinburgh, and Lady Hazel Sinnet, destined to marry her cousin Bernard Almont, son of a viscount, enjoys spending her time reading medical textbooks and trying to animate dead frogs like one of her idols, Luigi Galvani . Her older brother, George, died a couple years prior from the fictional Roman fever, named for the telltale symptomatic sores that resemble "several stab wounds to the back like Julius Caesar's." Since then, her mother has been overprotective of Hazel's younger brother, Percy, now heir to Hawthornden Castle, the family estate, and has barely paid attention to Hazel, allowing the noble teenager to continue indulging in her desire for medical education.

When Hazel gets a chance to see a surgery performed by the famous Dr. Beecham, grandson of the even more famous Dr. Beecham who authored Dr. Beecham's Treatise on Anatomy: or, the Prevention and Cure of Modern Diseases , she jumps at it. Her cousin, more squeamish than her, won't go with her, so she goes scandalously alone and unchaperoned, hoping to slip in without being noticed after the demonstration starts, but finds the doors locked. Lucky for her, a young commoner around her age, Jack Currer, helps her get inside, and there she sees Dr. Beecham perform a quick and easy amputation, made quiet and orderly by the use of a new compound he calls ethereum.

Jack, the boy who helps Hazel, is what is called a resurrection man. He digs up freshly dead bodies from cemeteries and sells them to the Anatomists' Society, the locus of scientific discovery in Edinburgh and the place where physicians are trained. Doctors and surgeons in training need cadavers, after all, and are officially allowed only to use those of executed criminals. Despite how common hangings may be, there still aren't enough to satisfy the Society's needs, and so it's an open secret that they buy bodies and need people like Jack to sell them. The resurrection men's position is precarious, though, and Schwartz's attention to some of these social and legal details is rather exquisite: "Stealing a body was against the law, but if they actually took any property from the grave, that would make it a felony." So, as if their job weren't unpleasant enough, Jack and other resurrection men need to strip the bodies of their clothing before loading them into a wheelbarrow and taking them away.

Anatomy is a love story, so you can guess that Hazel and Jack soon begin developing a slow-burn romance, although I'd argue that the love story of the subtitle is not only theirs but also Hazel's love affair with medicine and the lengths she'll go to be able to practice it. She pulls a Mulan and dresses in her dead brother's clothes in order to take a course Dr. Beecham is teaching, and later, when things go awry there, begins to procure bodies from Jack as well in order to study the human form on her own.

But to what end? It's 1817, after all, and Hazel is a woman, a noblewoman at that. Who will ever allow her to become a surgeon? Her mother, when she finally wakes up to the fact that Hazel and Bernard are not officially affianced, tells her: "The world is not kind to women, Hazel. Even women like you. Your grandfather was a viscount, yes, but I was a daughter and so that means very little. Your father owns Hawthornden, and when he—when your father dies, Hawthornden will go to Percy. Do you know what happens to unmarried women? [...] Nowhere to live. At the mercy of your relatives. At the mercy of your little brother and whomever he deigns to marry. Begging your sister-in-law for scraps of human decency, praying that she's kind." Later, Hazel herself comes up with a distressing analogy: "Educating her in anatomy would be like teaching a pig to read before the slaughter."

In the background of Hazel's attempts at education and training, poor people in Edinburgh are dying. The Roman fever is back, which is part of it, but there's something else, more sinister at work. Some readers familiar with the mystery genre will likely guess quite a few of the twists as they're signaled pretty early on, but the journey there is nevertheless fun—and, occasionally, squelchy and gruesome, in just the right amount for a gothic love story.

Ilana Masad is an Israeli-American fiction writer, critic, and founder/host of the podcast The Other Stories. Her debut novel is All My Mother's Lovers .

'Turtles All The Way Down' Is A Moving Portrayal Of Life With A Mental Illness

Guest Writer

Molly Turpin first read John Green ’s young adult novel, “ Turtles All the Way Down ,” in 2018 when she was in an inpatient psych ward for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was an emotional read because of how strongly she related to the novel’s protagonist, Aza, and her struggles with OCD and anxiety.

“[I] was so moved by John Green’s portrayal of OCD because it was the most accurate portrayal I’ve seen in media,” Turpin, now 27, said.

For many fans, like Turpin, Green’s novel feels personal. Whether they have a mental illness themselves or love someone with one, Aza’s story makes them feel seen and understood. This sentiment isn’t unique to “Turtles All the Way Down.” Green is known for writing stories — including “Looking for Alaska” and “The Fault in Our Stars” — about young adult characters grappling with a very specific scenario. In “Turtles All the Way Down,” Aza is searching for a missing billionaire who happens to be the dad of her crush, which ultimately leads to an internal revelation that touches at the very core of what it means to be human and to grow up. The love people have for these coming-of-age stories has resulted in a passionate fan base of readers who see themselves in the grace that Green’s books offer.

This is especially true for fans of “Turtles All the Way Down,” with many pointing to the text as a key event in their mental health journeys. The deep attachment those fans have felt to the book has increased expectations for its new movie adaptation, which is directed by Hannah Marks from a screenplay by Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker and stars Isabela Merced as Aza. But can the movie really be as good as the book? Can it do justice to Aza and every reader who has felt like her or loved someone like her?

The overwhelming consensus from fans is yes. The “Turtles All the Way Down” movie is a moving, accurate portrayal of what it feels like to live with a mental illness.

Shannon Parry was diagnosed with OCD in the second grade. Like Turpin, Parry, now 34, was really struggling when she first read “Turtles All the Way Down.” In 2017, she was in therapy, and she credits Green’s novel with helping her as much as therapy did.

“ It was a matter of understanding that there were people out there in the world [like me] and [giving] me a language to be able to describe my OCD to the people around me,” Parry said.

A large reason for that was the imagery and language that Green uses in the book to describe Aza’s thought spirals, which are a series of negative thoughts, feelings or actions that can escalate and become overwhelming.

The trademark orange spiral on the cover, the allusion to a Raymond Pettibon painting of a spiral and the descriptions of Aza’s illogical but inescapable thought patterns all helped Parry.

“I was able to describe thought spirals and point to certain imagery in the book and say that is what it feels like when I’m going down a thought spiral or I can’t get out of a series of thoughts,” Parry said.

Patrick McGrath , the chief clinical officer for NOCD , an online platform that Green is partnering with because of its commitment to make exposure and response prevention therapy (the gold standard of OCD treatment) more accessible, said that everyone has intrusive thoughts, images or urges that interrupt their daily lives.

For example, everyone could drive over a bridge and think to themselves, “I wonder what would happen if I drove off of it,” but “ the difference between people with and without OCD is that people without OCD can go, ‘Oh, that was weird’ and move on, and people with OCD can get caught in a thought spiral ... then they do some kind of compulsion … to neutralize the intrusive thought or image,” McGrath said. He said this compulsion makes people with OCD feel safe, and they think that if they had not done that neutralization, something terrible would have happened.

In “Turtles All the Way Down,” Aza’s intrusive thoughts are usually about germs, bacteria and her microbiome because she is terrified of getting an infection and dying. One of the ways she neutralizes this obsession is by fixating on the calloused pad of her finger: putting a band-aid on it, picking at it until it bleeds and cleaning it with soap or hand sanitizer.

When Parry first saw Aza’s flashing, interrupting thoughts about microbes in the movie trailer for “Turtles All the Way Down,” she cried. On May 2, the day the film was released on Max, she woke up in the middle of the night to watch it and cried again.

“The scene where I knew this movie fully understood and represented me was the first time Aza thought spirals about her cut,” Parry said. “The way the germs flash and she can’t stop thinking about the bandage. I go through something similar with my dermatillomania, or skin picking.”

Because most depictions of OCD focus on people’s compulsions, McGrath, who has seen the film twice, believes it is especially important that the movie shows “the mental stuff” because “finally people will understand that internal torture that occurs with obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

Kayla Miller, a 21-year-old college senior living in Indianapolis (where the film takes place), doesn’t have a mental illness herself, but she also thinks the movie can help people understand the challenges of supporting someone with one. She appreciates the way it shows Aza’s complicated relationships with Daisy (Cree), her best friend, Davis (Felix Mallard), her crush, and her mom (Judy Reyes).

“People are affected by the mental and physical health of others that they love, too,” Miller said. She found the film to be affirming of the experiences that she’s been through with family members who deal with depression, anxiety and addiction.

Parry said the book helped her parents “to understand in a very tangible way how I experience the world” and thinks the movie can do the same. As soon as she finished watching it, she tweeted, “…Texted my parents that, though my OCD is different than Aza’s, they should watch the movie to understand how I experience OCD.” Shortly after posting, Green retweeted her, saying, “This is our dream for the movie — that it can help not only people feel seen but also be a window for those who love and support people living with OCD and/or anxiety. (Plus, it’s funny.)”

When Green retweeted Parry, she felt like it made her leap to be vulnerable — she wouldn’t normally tweet something like that — worth it. It also emphasized that while the book and movie are a form of entertainment, they are also part of a bigger movement that Green has led to destigmatize mental illness.

Green has been very open about his own struggles with OCD and how a particularly rough period in his life inspired “Turtles All the Way Down.” Every fan interviewed for this article referenced Green’s openness about his mental health, saying it was inspiring and a contributing factor in why they were comfortable sharing their stories for this piece. And all of them hope that, like Green, they can use their experiences to help others know they aren’t alone and work to normalize broader conversations about mental illness.

This is the reason that Ellie Bridges Greenfield read “Turtles All the Way Down” in the first place. It was a summer reading assignment before her sophomore year of high school, included as part of a larger initiative to destigmatize mental illness. When she first read the book, Greenfield didn’t know about her own mental health issues. She could empathize with Aza, but she couldn’t understand her yet. It wasn’t until a few years later, during her first year of college, that Greenfield received a diagnosis of anxiety and began therapy, leading to her empathizing with Aza more deeply.

Like Aza, Greenfield feels like she is still at the beginning of a long journey. Her symptoms have been worse this spring, and she just started medication for the first time. She hasn’t even told her closest family or friends how bad things have been because she’s still learning to accept and manage her anxiety for herself.

For some, like Greenfield, the movie wasn’t an enjoyable watch because the thought spirals were triggering. While she thought it did a good job of depicting what it’s like to have a thought spiral, she was uncomfortable during those scenes because she knows how upsetting it is to experience something like that.

Although Greenfield thinks she will only watch “Turtles All the Way Down” once, she appreciates how hopeful its ending is.

“There is this element of acceptance that we see at the end of the movie that I think is so true,” she said. “Your thoughts are there, but they don’t control you ... and that’s something I always have to remind myself. At the end of the day, I have to remember I have mental authority.”

Without spoiling anything, the ending doesn’t downplay or sugarcoat Aza’s reality as someone with OCD or the challenges it may pose for her in the future. Instead, it reflects something McGrath hopes his patients can learn: mental illness will always be a “constant companion” for the rest of your life, but you can learn to live with it and it can be managed.

The final scene was also Turpin’s favorite part of the movie.

“[When] Daisy is telling Aza that she can be successful and she can build her life, and there will be times when it will be unbuilt but she’ll build it back up … I have found that is accurate in my own life,” she said.

Miller also loves the movie ending with this lesson, finding it hopeful and applicable to everyone — whether they have a mental illness or are supporting someone through one.

She also thinks the film, like the book, is comforting, saying that it’s “a safe place to land, to know that you’re going to struggle and you are going to face some hard things, but in the end there is still love, hope and people to support you through that.”

For these fans, the “Turtles All the Way Down” movie successfully captures the lived realities of being a teen and having a mental illness. But, most importantly, it is a testament to the larger impact of Green’s openness surrounding his own journey with OCD and anxiety.

For Parry, Green has created a world “where it is OK to do something like have an interview like this and share about your own mental health, and it’s OK to have OCD [and be a] skin picker. It doesn’t make you less than or unworthy … and that in fact, by coming forward, you’re probably helping someone else.”

Taken this way, “Turtles All the Way Down” begins to take on a new meaning. Maybe intrusive thoughts and anxieties do beget another turtle that’s sitting on the back of another turtle to create an infinite spiral. But maybe the way the movie and Green’s personal experience inspire fans to share their stories has a similar impact. Maybe self-acceptance and honesty can beget turtles all the way down, too.

“Turtles All The Way Down” is streaming on Max.

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The 2024 Pulitzer Prizes were announced on May 6 in New York City. Read our reviews of this year's winning works of fiction, general nonfiction, history, biography, and memoir and autobiography.

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A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy

No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era

King: A Life

Master Slave Husband Wife: An American Love Story

Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice

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Anatomy: A Love Story (The Anatomy Duology, 1) Hardcover – January 18, 2022

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*INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* *INSTANT #1 INDIE BESTSELLER* *INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER* *A REESE'S YA BOOK CLUB PICK* "Schwartz's magical novel is at once gripping and tender, and the intricate plot is engrossing as the reader tries to solve the mystery. She doesn't miss a beat in either the characterization or action, scattering clues with a delicate, precise hand. This is, in the end, the story of the anatomy of the human heart." - Booklist (starred review) Dana Schwartz’s Anatomy: A Love Story is a gothic tale full of mystery and romance. 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, Beecham will allow her to continue her medical career. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books―she’ll need corpses to study. Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living. But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets, and the dreaded Roman Fever, which wiped out thousands a few years ago, is back with a vengeance. Nobody important cares―until Hazel. Now, Hazel and Jack must work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.

• Book 1 of 2 The Anatomy Duology
• Print length 352 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 7 - 9
• Dimensions 6.35 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
• Publisher Wednesday Books
• Publication date January 18, 2022
• ISBN-10 1250774152
• ISBN-13 978-1250774156
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

From school library journal.

*INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* *INSTANT #1 INDIE BESTSELLER* *INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER* *A REESE'S YA BOOK CLUB PICK* "Irreverent, intelligent and smart, Dana Schwartz is one of the brightest of the next generation of young writers." ―Neil Gaiman, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Schwartz's magical novel is at once gripping and tender, and the intricate plot is engrossing as the reader tries to solve the mystery. She doesn't miss a beat in either the characterization or action, scattering clues with a delicate, precise hand. This is, in the end, the story of the anatomy of the human heart." - Booklist (starred review) "[R]eaders will eagerly turn pages... A suspenseful, intricately plotted gothic romance, perfect for fans of macabre historical fiction. Recommend to readers who enjoy Kenneth Oppel’s 'The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein' series or Megan Shepherd’s 'Madman’s Daughter' trilogy." - School Library Journal (starred review) "...an intimate look at how society decides who is worth healing and who is worth exploiting in the name of science. " - Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books "A fast-paced, utterly engrossing tale of mystery, romance, and cadavers. Dana Schwartz deftly blends the historical with the supernatural, racing from macabre graveyards to Scottish castles with two compelling young heroes I dare you not to root for. I grinned, I gasped, I cried and ended this book breathless and craving more.” ―Alwyn Hamilton, New York Times bestselling author of the Rebel of the Sands series “Diabolically delightful. A love story, a murder mystery, and a horror novel bound up together in ghoulish stitches." ―Maureen Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of the Truly Devious trilogy "Lionhearted heroine you’ll root for from page one? Check. Dark academia vibes? Check. Cheeky romantic banter that will make you blush? Check, check and CHECK. Read this gripping, ridiculously clever tale only if you’re fully prepared to be haunted by its revelations about life and death while also swooning at the idea of flirting with someone in an open grave." ―Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of You Have a Match and Tweet Cute Praise for And We're Off : A Seventeen Magazine Best Book of the Year “A winsome, hilarious tale about losing the map and finding a better way to a happy ending. I loved it!” ―#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner “ And We’re Off is sure to steal your heart and inspire some serious wanderlust.”―HelloGiggles “Fun, poignant, and funny. I want to travel with Dana, and after reading this, so will you.” ― New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Maureen Johnson "[Schwartz] deftly mixes humor and tenderness....This funny, whimsical tome isn't easy to put down once you start." ― Rolling Stone Praise for Choose Your Own Disaster : "This long-form personality quiz manages to combine humor with unflinching honesty as one young woman tries to find herself amid the many, many choices that your twenties have to offer." ― Bustle "Equal parts amusing and cringe-worthy, these stories will have millennial readers relating and older ones nodding, 'Yes. I've made similar mistakes."― Library Journal "The snappy direct address gives the feel of a playful internet bit, is sure to please Schwartz's loyal fans." ― Booklist "What do millennials love more than a quiz? NOTHING (except for killing off the diamond and napkin industries). That's part of what makes Dana Schwartz's unflinching, hilarious, and feminist memoir, Choose Your Own Disaster , such a fun ride." ― PopSugar " Choose Your Own Disaster is a salted caramel of a memoir. Her travails as an early 20-something aspiring writer/rom-com character are the perfect mixture of salty and sweet." ― The Washington Post

About the Author

Product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wednesday Books (January 18, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250774152
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250774156
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 17+ years, from customers
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 9
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.35 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
• #15 in Teen & Young Adult Historical Romance
• #53 in Teen & Young Adult Sword & Sorcery Fantasy
• #62 in Teen & Young Adult Fantasy Romance

About the author

Dana schwartz.

Dana Schwartz is a writer with bylines for Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Marie Claire, the New Yorker, GQ, and more. She's the creator of the viral Twitter accounts @GuyInYourMFA and @DystopianYA, and the host and creator of the chart-topping history podcast NOBLE BLOOD. Dana lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Beetlejuice.

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