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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I loved this book! Super interesting and very enlightening. Even though it is all about death and how other cultures treat their dead, this book is not at all morbid. It brings humor and hope to a subject that is often awkward and uncomfortable to approach. I will definitely be reading more of her books!
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
With topics pertaining to other cultures and easily exoticizarion, the line between fetishization and insight is introspection. I think the author could have benefited from bringing more of herself to the book, and from interrogating how dark tourism shadows this research endeavour. I would also like to know how the specific cultures were selected - what went into those choices?
Criticisms aside, I did tear through this book. It's fascinating, albeit with some moral queasiness attached.
Criticisms aside, I did tear through this book. It's fascinating, albeit with some moral queasiness attached.
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
fast-paced
Caitlin Doughty successfully pulled off the difficult feat of being entertaining but not exploitative, macabre but not revolting. I haven't read her first book, and I was a little afraid the main thesis would just be "look how totally weird and gross other cultures are!" Luckily, it was nothing like that.
The book is short but illuminating, with the perfect amount of jokes to make you smile, but still contains more than enough poignant scenes to tug at your heartstrings. More than that, it makes you take a long, hard look at that thing no one wants to take a long, hard look at: the physicality of your death, and how your loved ones will process it. Also, I was particularly surprised and delighted by her feminist exploration of women in deathcare. (The hand-drawn illustrations were also a special touch that I really enjoyed.)
I couldn't help but compare this book to Mary Roach's Stiff, which was a bit more all-encompassing and, for me at least, impactful. However, this work was still excellent and I look forward to reading more by the author!
The book is short but illuminating, with the perfect amount of jokes to make you smile, but still contains more than enough poignant scenes to tug at your heartstrings. More than that, it makes you take a long, hard look at that thing no one wants to take a long, hard look at: the physicality of your death, and how your loved ones will process it. Also, I was particularly surprised and delighted by her feminist exploration of women in deathcare. (The hand-drawn illustrations were also a special touch that I really enjoyed.)
I couldn't help but compare this book to Mary Roach's Stiff, which was a bit more all-encompassing and, for me at least, impactful. However, this work was still excellent and I look forward to reading more by the author!