Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

161 reviews

finnickdeservedbetter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Themes

• Death and mortality
• Death positivity and death plans
• The American/western Death industry
• Confronting the fear of death
• Death practices

My Thoughts:
Baby's (23yo's) first memior!

I was already familiar with Caitlin prior to reading this. Both through her YouTube videos and having read her other two novels.

Favourite Quote:

“Through the thick fog, I coyld barely make out a sign above the road: cemetery, 1 mile. I strode up the hill, walking straight down the center of the road with big, bild steps—bigger and bolder than my cardiovascular health should have allowed for."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Minor: Medical content, Blood, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

burningbeaker's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

harrimyers's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

currently placed at 4.25 but definitely could move to 4.5. a very good, concise overview of both the american death industry, but also how the western world views death in general. the formatting was brilliant and this book has taught me so much about the death industry that i either hadn’t even stopped to consider or hadn’t known at all. it was a very interesting look at how the death industry in america has directly warped people’s views of death and their relationships with their own mortality. doughty’s personal experiences are fascinating, if slightly… concerning at times. her stories from the crematorium were the most engaging part of this book and how the author links these to her past childhood experiences with death and to philosophical and cultural views of death was highly impressive. at times, the tone felt a little too… casual? but i suppose that part of this comes down to doughty’s mission to demistify death and part because this book was made to be engaging to read. however, with this in mind, there was a few instances where this casual tone did do a disservice to her argument, especially in regards to the size of the corpses and her brief dip into her run of the bdsm scene in hawaii. overall, this book was definitely thought provoking and has definitely demistifyed a lot about death for me (coming from someone who often already considers death to be an important thing to be conscious about) as well as making me stop and think very carefully about what i want to happen to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Blood, Cancer, Terminal illness, Child death, and Dementia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Fatphobia

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Colonisation

alicroz34's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This book is full of really excellent, extremely dark information. It does, however, very much read like someone's first book. It hits its stride after the first quarter or so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Blood, Addiction, Miscarriage, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Racial slurs, Addiction, Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

alex_bousquet's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

Seemed immature in writing style. Caitlin had a woe is me attitude throughout the entire book, refusing to ask for help when needed then complaining how she had to do alot of things all alone within the crematory she worked in. She also talked more about her past and living in Hawaii than she did about the actual crematory business as a whole. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

beaniepola's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

ehamlett's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Blood, Animal death, and Dementia

allycat6170's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death and Child death

aleyajo's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Reminds me of Stiff but more of a memoir. Likable author. Thoughtful perspective on the death industry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Death

doriangaymer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

Affectionately, we are all going to die. It is what it is. Our culture is obsessed with living and dying in equal measure. In the modern world, medicine is at once a blessing and a curse. We live longer now, and in that longevity, we have come to fear not only dying, which is natural, but death itself, which is not. Or, rather, it shouldn't be. We should be more accepting of death. See it as a friend waiting to guide us to whatever we believe the end will be. And sometimes, we need a guide in life to help guide our minds to acceptance. 

This book is that guide. A sometimes dark, yet lighthearted, look at the death industry by Caitlin Doughty of "Ask a Mortician" fame. After knitting a blanket and binging all the videos on her Youtube channel, I bought this book. It will be reread in the future, and contains a wonderful list of sources for further reading on the subject.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts