Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

74 reviews

finnickdeservedbetter's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Minor: Medical content, Blood, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

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

alicroz34's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Blood, Addiction, Miscarriage, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Racial slurs, Addiction, Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

alex_bousquet's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

ehamlett's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Blood, Animal death, and Dementia

frankieclc's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

cmlalonde's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Highly recommend this book to fans of the YouTube channel 'Ask a Mortician' or just anyone a little bit curious about death.
Caitlin tackles dark topics unapologetically and with a sense of humour.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Cancer, Miscarriage, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

apoppyinthewind's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

I enjoyed this one though it is a heavier read. If you're up for reading some rather vivid details about cremation and the completely natural processes our bodies go through when we die then yes, check this book out. I appreciated the honest & humorous way the author discusses death, it's refreshing and makes me wish that death could be talked about so openly in general. I listened to the audiobook and having the author do the reading made it one of the best audiobooks I've had the pleasure to listen to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Car accident, Death, Medical content, Suicide, and Dementia

eviethebookworm's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Grief

just_jeffrey0597's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Very informative and leads to a thought provoking experience about death and dying in American society 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Child death, Dementia, Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse