Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

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

4 reviews

harrimyers's review

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

leweylibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

I really, really want to give this 5 stars solely because of how much I enjoyed it and learned from it that I'm going to think about for a long time to come. But there were just a few parts that didn't age well and read as a bit offensive, so those sat funny with me.

Overall this book is a lot of morbid, informative fun! I feel like it's made me think about death and dying in an entirely different way--I already caught myself while watching the new Hunger Games prequel thinking about the dead bodies of the fallen tributes and how decomposed they must have been lol. It also connected some dots for me about past experiences concerning death. I had always thought I was uncomfortable with the first funeral I ever went to just because it was my first funeral, but I think I really was uncomfortable with the unnatural-ness of that funeral, how my great aunt didn't look like her anymore and she didn't look...dead enough to be dead.

I really want an updated version of this book--surely there are more "green" burial options now 10 years later? I also went ahead and put holds on all of the author's other books. Not only do I love the subject matter she focuses on, but I love her writing. She reminds me of Jenny Lawson with how deep and personal she can get but then also crack a weird, inappropriate joke in the next breath lol. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Mental illness and Dementia

Minor: Cancer, Addiction, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, and Chronic illness

ha1yan's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Animal death, Miscarriage, Blood, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Dementia, Car accident, and Cancer

Minor: Misogyny and Gun violence

Detailed descriptions of corpses in various stages of decomposition

noshelf_control's review against another edition

dark funny informative fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Minor: Car accident, Drug use, and Alcoholism