The Anatomy of Curiosity

Reviewed by: Kara Reiman - Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: September 15, 2016

Review

"The Anatomy of Curiosity" is an interesting book by authors Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff. The book contains three novellas (one by each author) and each focuses on an important part of the creative process involved in writing: characterization, world building, and coming up with ideas. There are introductions to each story by the authors, as well as notes interspersed within each story describing how that part of the story was worked on (whether the author edited out too many similar descriptors, or how the character got their name, etc.). It's a cool idea, but I found it tough to follow at times. I tried both reading the story first and the notes after and then for the next story reading the notes as I was reading the story, but both ways felt a little choppy.

As far as the stories themselves go, I really enjoyed Stiefvater's novella about an old woman with a secret and the teenage girl hired to read her poetry, but the other tales were harder for me to get into. I like the idea of the book, but not sure it's effective for me. Not a must-buy.

Overall Book Score: good