Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

All the Living and the Dead: A Personal Investigation Into the Death Trade by Hayley Campbell

6 reviews

kmoz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.0

oof

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Blood, Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Terminal illness

asacco9642's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Genocide, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Body horror, Child death, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, Dementia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, War, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

brucethegirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

An in depth look into the death industry and the people who handle us after we're gone. Detailing every step of the process, and a few of the less traditional aspects, Campbell made it her mission to relay those who work in death are shown with compassion and understanding. 

I adored this book. I personally got a little squeamish about the more medical details involved in the embalming and generally preparing a body for viewing. How the mouth is kept closed and the like. But as Campbell says in the afterward, she never assumed what the reader could and could not handle. She let us make that choice for ourselves. The discussions had about death, about care of the body, about the realities every person will one day face, were all compassionate and gave an understanding that I've never had in my life. 

"The first dead body you see shouldn't be someone you love. You should first learn how to distinguish between death and loss." It's not an exact quote, but easily the most powerful statement the entire book makes. Because its not wrong. The entire book discusses the difference between the natural end of life, and the grief left behind by the loss of a loved one. She talks about how many people have had a hand in their loved ones after life care because they were first exposed to death outside their loss. Grave diggers who buried their mothers and have already dug their own future graves by way of family plots. Morticians who have bled their parents and pumped in chemicals to bring a false sense of life back to their body in preparation for the funeral. A death midwife who was prepared for a worst possible scenario when she faced a complication in pregnancy. All are able to cope, to a degree, with loss because they understand it as separate from death. 

There are some statistics going around recently about why women are the preferred gender for care of a body after death (do not google why). But Campbell mentions a similar statistic but gives an explanation I wasn't expecting. More women are taking courses for this kind of care then men. Ever since the shift in mortuary care went from simply the person with the body to the person handling bereavement. As society becomes less deeply religious, there has been a shift away from the church and towards the people in the business. There is more care involved with a funeral by people. Campbell reasons it might be because of our natural connection with blood, and life, that could lead to a more natural inclination towards that field. Certainly an interesting conclusion. 

This book is just beautiful. I honestly feel like I could write an entire breakdown of everything she discusses. From prison executions to cryo-freezing bodies for a possible future. Every topic she discusses is poignant and I had to take mini breaks between each chapter to think about what I had just learned, and the new approach I'd just been shown. 

My parents are beginning to age, the knowledge that I have a finite time with them is more clear now than ever. This book might not be for everyone coping with death. But it couldn't hurt to check it out if you are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Child death, Miscarriage, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Drug abuse, Cancer, Suicide, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Gore, Death of parent, and Blood

miss_magenta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Murder, and Cancer

burdasnest's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, Gore, Excrement, Grief, Terminal illness, Cancer, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Genocide, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Car accident, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, and Chronic illness

marareading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

3.5

3.5 rounded up. I definitely enjoyed this. I am a novice to this genre and topic so this might be skewed based on that alone. Her perspective is what made this book fascinating for me. She paid attention to the people in the fields of study and their reactions and lives, not just the processes (however also amazingly fascinating). <Spoiler> I especially loved at the end when she talked about how every person in every profession was separated and usually took issue with a profession in another step of the process. <Spoiler> Overall this is interesting and enjoyable information for me. I learned a lot. If you enjoy this topic this would be a book to gain not just information, but human perspectives from all sides of the industry deal with death. 

There are VERY heavy triggers in this book, including a chapter focused heavily on child/infant death and the last portion of the book repeating reactions to said chapter. Please read with awareness and self care 💜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Cancer, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Murder, Terminal illness, Gun violence, and Infertility