nikenacs's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

I picked this up not thinking much of it, both because I'd had a recent death in my family and because my local library was offering the e-book. And man, I'm so happy I read this. It took me a while to get into it, but when I did, I was INTO IT.

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.) 

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vanesst's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5


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pettypierrot's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0


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asiaasiaja's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75


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cooper_reads_books's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0


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ssarahbbeth's review against another edition

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dark funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.25


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mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0


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lailams's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

I didn't think I'd ever describe a book about funerals as "funny" - let alone enjoy it - yet here we are. Caitlin Doughty masterfully crafted the reflective journey of a lifetime (death time?) in my eyes. I picked it up thinking 'huh, I suppose I don't know much about the funeral industry, I'm sure information on it would come in handy' and put it down a changed person, a semi-revolutonist ready to call every person I know and talk about our shamed, silent culture around death. I've talked about death with my mom and sister quite a bit - we've all known forever that we wanted natural burials - but the layers that this book will add to our conversations (and my personal conversations with myself) about our deaths is frankly irreplaceable. I'm thankful to have read this book. I would like to say I've come out of this book comfortable with my mortality, but I don't think that's the case. It'll take me a lot longer to undo the cultural brainwashing that has told me to fear death for so long. But I'm ready to start on the journey. Oddly enough, this book about death has made me excited to live and learn. It's been so long since a book has genuinely, existentially impacted me like this - it's an easy 5 stars. 

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elizlizabeth's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

I saw many of my concerns and thoughts about death reflected and answered in this book, and I was given lots more to ponder. Caitlin has a way of writing these things nonchalantly and straight to the facts, while mantaining an engaging and eerie, reflective vibe.

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babayaga1989's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0


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