veeples's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This has been one of my favorite reads all year, hands down. I’ve followed Caitlin Doughty on her YouTube channel for years and I’m so glad I got around to listening to this book. Caitlin’s humor shines through that adds a bit of lightness to such heavy material, but not inappropriately so. I enjoyed seeing her journey in her relationship to death and her reflections on others’ who appear in the book and their own relationship with death. I’ve always had an appreciation for what she stands for in regards to agency in dying and opening up a conversation about death, and reading this has only deepened that.

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nialystic's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.75


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finnickdeservedbetter's review against another edition

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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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burningbeaker's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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alicroz34's review against another edition

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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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lkliemann's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0


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alex_bousquet's review against another edition

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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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doriangaymer's review against another edition

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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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frankieclc's review against another edition

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5.0


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gothicaavrilraven's review against another edition

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dark funny informative fast-paced

3.5


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