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Reviews tagging 'Child death'
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
185 reviews
mnstam's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
haleyhorrorshow's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Violence, Vomit, and Car accident
rabbithalliwell's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
jlblumenfeld's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
emjayknocks's review against another edition
4.25
I also appreciated the unflinching and detailed explanations of what happens to our bodies once they arrive at the morgue. I always thought embalming was creepy and this book helped me understand why; I am now inspired to give my body back to the animals after my death! Sadly this book hasn’t made me less terrified of being dead… I’ll keep reading books on the subject and hope for the best 😅
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Medical content
kamrynkoble's review against another edition
4.5
Heavy warnings for death (of a parent and infant death specifically, too). I didn’t find the details disturbing or disgusting (then again, I’ve seen a lot of horrible photos of dead bodies from my 911 dispatching days, so maybe I’m not the best reference).
All-in-all an interesting, engaging read that flew by. I’d never engaged with this author before but now I’m excited to check out her videos as well.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Death of parent
mirandaleighhhh's review against another edition
4.0
It was also pretty gross! But no grosser, I think, than being alive and having a body. I was surprised to hear that there are death industry "secrets" - WHY? I whole-heartedly agree that the stark separation we have from death in the modern day is a tragic disservice to us all. This book reminded me that I am a person and an animal and part of the earth, and I have a place in it all both in life and in death. I look forward to reading more of Doughty's work.
I didn't love the way she spoke about individuals who have died by suicide, but I don't think it was malicious and I did not get the impression that she is insensitive or uncaring - more the opposite. She is both giving it to us straight and weaving in her own anxieties surrounding death.
"In this way, my body's decomposition would also be a banquet. My corpse would not be a disgusting source of corruption, but a source of life, dispensing molecules and creating new creatures. It would be the finest acknowledgement that I was but one tiny cog in the ecosystems wheel. A blip in the majestic workings of the natural world. We all know how this story turned out. In spite of my fear of living, I chose not to die."
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Medical content
breadbummer's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
Minor: Sexual content
nikenacs's review against another edition
4.75
The ins and outs of the crematorium are interesting enough, but the true strength of this book is in its reflections on our society's attitude towards death. Absolutely 10/10 on that front. As someone who has had little to no contact with death in my personal life, this gave me a lot to think about.
Very US-centric, which is not a bad thing, but instead made me very curious to research how the funeral industry works in Germany, and Western Europe in general.
A tad superficial at times, oftentimes a chapter ended just when I felt like we were really getting into it. I appreciate that it combined more light-hearted personal memoir elements with philosophy and history as well as politics, but it could have been a tad more of the latter for my taste.
But all in all, I'm not being hyperbolic when I say this opened my eyes on how we treat both our dead and our dying. Will be recommending, will be checking out more of Doughty's work.
(And on a personal note, I knew I was right when I wanted to set up my testament and funeral wishes when I was in elementary school! Take that, parents.)
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Cancer, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Violence, and Cannibalism
Minor: Addiction, Miscarriage, and Abortion
inthemoonlight's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, and Car accident
Moderate: Cannibalism and Suicide attempt