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3.71k reviews for:
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
Caitlin Doughty
4.32 AVERAGE
3.71k reviews for:
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
Caitlin Doughty
4.32 AVERAGE
I know white people love to do that thing where we make lists titled "Ten Books Every American Should Be Forced to Read!" and all of that enlightened nonsense, but I really wish I could enforce that with From Here to Eternity. Full disclosure: I love Caitlin Doughty, have watched every single one of her YouTube videos, and read her memoir Smoke Gets in Your Eyes a couple years back, but this book is truly special. It's beautifully illustrated, heartfelt, and weirdly funny. I laughed out loud several times at Caitlin's wry, surprising asides. In fact, despite not being an emotional person (I would not go far in a career as a funeral wailer), I shed a few tears and laughed a lot more than I was expecting.
Have you ever been at a traditional American funeral and thought, Hm, isn't it weird that we're staring at half of the body of this chemically preserved person for a while, just before we put them in the ground and leave before they even fully cover the casket with dirt? If so, then this is the book for you!
Caitlin, a mortician, death positivity advocate, and YouTuber (!) working in California recounts her travels to Colorado, Indonesia, Bolivia, Mexico, Italy, and Japan, where she sees firsthand many death rituals while also giving relevant contextual information (paired with her trademark wit). While she relates her experiences in a touching and illustrative manner, you as a reader can always feel the respectful distance she puts between herself and the intimacy of mourning, as well as her awareness of her position as a white spectator at these rituals of (mostly) people of color from very different cultures than her own. I expected nothing less from her, as I know her from her other work, but I thought it was so tasteful and made the reading experience a lot more comfortable.
If you're interested in the death positive movement, but perhaps aren't quite ready to delve into the emotional work of accepting your own mortality, From Here to Eternity is the perfect introductory book to get you used to the notion that yes, you are a future corpse, and yes, not everyone in the world defines a "good death" as a casket in a steel vault in a plush lawn.
Have you ever been at a traditional American funeral and thought, Hm, isn't it weird that we're staring at half of the body of this chemically preserved person for a while, just before we put them in the ground and leave before they even fully cover the casket with dirt? If so, then this is the book for you!
Caitlin, a mortician, death positivity advocate, and YouTuber (!) working in California recounts her travels to Colorado, Indonesia, Bolivia, Mexico, Italy, and Japan, where she sees firsthand many death rituals while also giving relevant contextual information (paired with her trademark wit). While she relates her experiences in a touching and illustrative manner, you as a reader can always feel the respectful distance she puts between herself and the intimacy of mourning, as well as her awareness of her position as a white spectator at these rituals of (mostly) people of color from very different cultures than her own. I expected nothing less from her, as I know her from her other work, but I thought it was so tasteful and made the reading experience a lot more comfortable.
If you're interested in the death positive movement, but perhaps aren't quite ready to delve into the emotional work of accepting your own mortality, From Here to Eternity is the perfect introductory book to get you used to the notion that yes, you are a future corpse, and yes, not everyone in the world defines a "good death" as a casket in a steel vault in a plush lawn.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
You may be someone who experiences real fear and anxiety around death, but you are here. Just like the people you are about to meet, you have shown up.
This is a strong, readable, insightful book about death, the messed-up realities of the funeral industries, and the burial traditions around the world that we may find more unusual. It does exactly what it says on the tin, and it does it well.
The book reads entirely in the author's voice, and unlike other YouTube creators who have attempted books (both non-fiction and fiction), this is an entirely good thing. The read is simultaneously soothing, quirky, witty, and entirely eye-opening. Caitlin Doughty communicates with a combination of humour, intellectual curiosity, and complete empathy that is entirely her own, and it translates beautifully to the written word.
This is a strong, readable, insightful book about death, the messed-up realities of the funeral industries, and the burial traditions around the world that we may find more unusual. It does exactly what it says on the tin, and it does it well.
The book reads entirely in the author's voice, and unlike other YouTube creators who have attempted books (both non-fiction and fiction), this is an entirely good thing. The read is simultaneously soothing, quirky, witty, and entirely eye-opening. Caitlin Doughty communicates with a combination of humour, intellectual curiosity, and complete empathy that is entirely her own, and it translates beautifully to the written word.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
It was alright. A little hard to follow but I learned some interesting things about death and death rituals. More of a travelogue with a death related itenerary.
I liked the overall message about overhauling the death industry in places like the US.
I liked the overall message about overhauling the death industry in places like the US.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage
There is a part where her friend talks very bluntly about a pregnancy that had to end in a termination for medical reasons, because her baby had a non-viable genetic condition.
While I’m not quite there yet, this book made me want to get comfortable with death. In facing that inevitable journey by embracing other’s departures. Why fear something you can’t stop. It would be better to find beauty and solace in its presence and comfort in the fact that, if nothing else, it’s the one thing we have in common with each other. Maybe find some common morality in our mortality,
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
"At almost any location in any major city on Earth, you are likely standing on thousands of bodies. These bodies represent a history that exists, often unknown, beneath our feet.
[...]
To cremate bodies we burn fossil fuel, thus named because it is made of decomposed dead organisms. Plants grow from the decayed matter of former plants. The pages of this book are made from the pulp of raw wood from a tree felled in its prime. All that surrounds us comes from death, every part of every city, and every part of every person." (p 231)
adventurous
informative
reflective
funny
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced