Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

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

16 reviews

stevie's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Fatphobia, Excrement, Drug use, Death, Chronic illness, Child death, and Cancer

lailams's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

I didn't think I'd ever describe a book about funerals as "funny" - let alone enjoy it - yet here we are. Caitlin Doughty masterfully crafted the reflective journey of a lifetime (death time?) in my eyes. I picked it up thinking 'huh, I suppose I don't know much about the funeral industry, I'm sure information on it would come in handy' and put it down a changed person, a semi-revolutonist ready to call every person I know and talk about our shamed, silent culture around death. I've talked about death with my mom and sister quite a bit - we've all known forever that we wanted natural burials - but the layers that this book will add to our conversations (and my personal conversations with myself) about our deaths is frankly irreplaceable. I'm thankful to have read this book. I would like to say I've come out of this book comfortable with my mortality, but I don't think that's the case. It'll take me a lot longer to undo the cultural brainwashing that has told me to fear death for so long. But I'm ready to start on the journey. Oddly enough, this book about death has made me excited to live and learn. It's been so long since a book has genuinely, existentially impacted me like this - it's an easy 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Excrement, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Vomit and Gore

nate_gray's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Suicide

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

im super terrified of death but im masochistic in that i can't stop myself from reading/seeing things about death, so this seemed like a perfect read for me. i think this is so informative--graphic at times, but conveys its point--does what the author wants to do, which is normalize death and decay. i think you should read this on an empty/settled stomach bc shit gets crusty! while informative, i did find the author's writing style a bit college-essay and she goes off on some tangents that are a bit simplistic (the luke thing). the chapter format got a bit predictable, but it doesn't deter from the meat of the information--just would've been perfect if it had been edited tighter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cannibalism, Car accident, and Dementia

babayaga1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Vomit, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Excrement, and Chronic illness

jobalharrie's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Car accident, Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, and Medical content