Reviews tagging 'Murder'

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

6 reviews

ju_harue's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

maggies's review against another edition

dark funny informative fast-paced

3.0

Really really really heed the content warning at the start of the book. Doughty can be very flippant in her descriptions, and while I understand this to be part of her overall goal of demystifying the death industry, it was at times shocking. I learned a lot, but it was all probably stuff I didn't feel a particular need to learn, so take from that what you will. She is a very entertaining writer, despite the subject matter (or perhaps because of it?)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Murder, Medical content, Death of parent, Gore, Child death, Suicide, and Body horror

indieandajean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

I'm a massive fan of Caitlin Doughty and the work she is doing through the Order of the Good Death to change the American perspective of death and mourning from our modern moment of hiding and sanitizing death towards a more traditional mourning ritual of home funerals and natural primarily non-embalmed means of body disposal. I'd read her other two books, but had yet to read this one because I was concerned that as her debut publication, it wouldn't contain her strong narrative voice and nonchalance about the details of death.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was untrue and that this book was not only extremely well written, but was the key to understanding why Caitlin's death fascination began and how she used her experiences to start the order. This book is a fantastic piece of memoir, and it is also a great place for the uninitiated to start when learning more about the good death and the ways in which we can begin to challenge the funeral industry as it exists today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Addiction, Car accident, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Chronic illness, and Cancer

Minor: Animal death

gwendle_vs_literature's review against another edition

dark funny informative medium-paced

4.0

A few years ago I would not have made it through this book, but watching Caitlin’s “Ask a Mortician” on YouTube over the past few years prepared me for the honest and sometimes startling way she describes the realities of death. I really enjoyed this book, and I got through it pretty quickly because it was engaging and that made it hard to put down. I can’t recommend it for everyone, as some people might find the frank descriptions of decay and of what happens to bodies in contemporary North-American funeral practices too difficult to get through. In that case I would be more inclined to recommend her second book “From  Here to Eternity” which explores a variety of different cultural practices regarding death from all around the world. That one I can recommend to almost anyone. 

Accidental pairing that I now recommend:

I happened to read this immediately after finishing “As I Lay Dying” — which may seem like I was on a theme, but it was just a coincidental timing of wait lists at the library. However, if you want to compare a factual discussion of death and our rituals surrounding it (past and present) with a classic of American literature on that topic written and set in a time after more modern death “management” (ie embalming and/or quick burials) had taken firm root, but when poverty and a desire to honour the last wishes of the dead lead a family to ignore those conventions, then it’s a pairing I can recommend. Caitlin’s information certainly made Faulkner’s novel more interesting for me by providing extra layers of context. Particularly if you have to read Faulkner for an English class, pairing it with “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” could make it more enjoyable for you, and could also provide some good essay topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

rtaire's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I love memoirs, but I was pleasantly surprised by how the author interweaves the science, history, and culture of death with her personal experiences. Her writing resonates with my own anxieties about death and points me in a direction of what I might want, where to research, and potentially how to ask for it. Now I want a "good death" and hopefully will learn more in her next book (and/or her YouTube channel).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Cannibalism, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Car accident, Child death, and Death

Minor: Addiction and Drug use

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