Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

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

16 reviews

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

mcornell's review

dark hopeful slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

aquakirst's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Medical trauma, Classism, Addiction, Gore, and Dementia

Minor: Excrement

spookily's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Blood, Child death, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Medical content, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Dementia, Drug use, Cancer, Classism, Violence, War, and Addiction

Minor: Sexism, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Car accident, and Excrement

asiaasiaja's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Car accident, Medical content, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Grief, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Excrement, Classism, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Vomit, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Sexism, and Dementia

Minor: Fatphobia, Cursing, Colonisation, Body shaming, Xenophobia, and Cancer

___christina___'s review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Death, Excrement, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Descriptions and discussions of tough topics are written empathicly and humorously.

samlikesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Excrement, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Blood, Child death, Suicide, Grief, and Terminal illness

Minor: Drug abuse and Dementia

gwendle_vs_literature's review against another edition

dark funny informative medium-paced

4.0

A few years ago I would not have made it through this book, but watching Caitlin’s “Ask a Mortician” on YouTube over the past few years prepared me for the honest and sometimes startling way she describes the realities of death. I really enjoyed this book, and I got through it pretty quickly because it was engaging and that made it hard to put down. I can’t recommend it for everyone, as some people might find the frank descriptions of decay and of what happens to bodies in contemporary North-American funeral practices too difficult to get through. In that case I would be more inclined to recommend her second book “From  Here to Eternity” which explores a variety of different cultural practices regarding death from all around the world. That one I can recommend to almost anyone. 

Accidental pairing that I now recommend:

I happened to read this immediately after finishing “As I Lay Dying” — which may seem like I was on a theme, but it was just a coincidental timing of wait lists at the library. However, if you want to compare a factual discussion of death and our rituals surrounding it (past and present) with a classic of American literature on that topic written and set in a time after more modern death “management” (ie embalming and/or quick burials) had taken firm root, but when poverty and a desire to honour the last wishes of the dead lead a family to ignore those conventions, then it’s a pairing I can recommend. Caitlin’s information certainly made Faulkner’s novel more interesting for me by providing extra layers of context. Particularly if you have to read Faulkner for an English class, pairing it with “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” could make it more enjoyable for you, and could also provide some good essay topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

coredrive's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Child death, and Medical content

Moderate: Terminal illness, Suicide, and Excrement

mermaidsherbet's review

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Vomit, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Excrement

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Body shaming, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness