asacco9642's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0


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old_man_niemand's review against another edition

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emotional informative fast-paced

4.0


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grimmauxillatrix's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Everyone knows about funeral directors, some people know about embalmers, but how many people know about pathologist technologists or bereavement midwives? A very good coverage of the overlooked people and positions in the death industry. 

The author reads the audiobook, and the best parts are where she lets her reading get emotional. Otherwise, her voice is flat, like she's reading a paper in front of her class. She doesn't have a bad voice or an annoying nasality or anything, it just gets a little boring sometimes. 

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burdasnest's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

 I was really hoping this book would be a good companion to Stiff by Mary Roach, but the only similarity was the journalistic approach. It was certainly informative, but the author interjected her own experiences and opinions amidst the information more than I would have personally preferred. To me, that just padded the book, and I would have preferred it to be more informative and shorter in that case. The point that we owe gratitude and grace to the unseen death workers is well taken, but I could have been spared the philosophy of the author on how she processes death. It is not humorous, and it's certainly not for anyone squeamish. But at the same time, the author manages to make gore and guts boring. 

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smblanc1793's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I like the way this book balances humor and truth, the graphic reality of death across the spectrum of industries, but also the philosophies that inform and help people cope with each one. The depictions of grief in this book are in some ways more grotesque to me than the descriptions of bodies, more raw and visceral. The author’s voice itself added a lot to the impact; though the book’s essence was informative, the profound effect its research had on her was one of the things that really struck a cord with me—one of the things I will remember most clearly. 

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