Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

39 reviews

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

hmatt's review against another edition

informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.5

I wanted a lot more out of this book than it provided. It was good, it did what it set out to do, but for a memoir I would have liked it to focus on a broader timeline in more detail. We get almost day-in-day-out accounts from the author's early years in the industry, but the timeline skips around and forward much more quickly after she returns to school. The narration assumes that we know the information to fill these gaps - it feels like it's assuming that the reader has kept up with the author's career progression as soon as she entered the public eye. Did I know who she is? Yes. But did I know the details of how she build her online presence and eventual business endeavours? No... and I still don't, because the book doesn't cover it.

I mostly appreciate when the author narrates their own non-fiction work, and that holds true here. I mostly appreciated it. But I felt as though some of the narration was stilted. The same inflections that work in the author's online videos don't always work in the context of narrating a book, and it's very clear at times which of these the author is more used to.

All that said - it was a solid read about a topic that I haven't seen a lot written on. It just lacked that extra "oomph".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Drug use

emtur007's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

An honest and sincere look at the funeral industry, how we grieve, and how we view death. This book is part memoir of Caitlin Doughty and her early days working in a crematorium and part reflection of how America treats death as a whole. It gets graphic at times but not for a scare. She's honest with herself and the world of the funeral business that she is involved with. Overall a great book for those comfortable with death and those who are not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Suicide, Grief, Miscarriage, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Cannibalism

phdoyle's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Dementia, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

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

ainsleys's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

3.75

A really interesting book, especially regarding the history of our relationship with death and the deceased. I enjoyed the sections about the few other cultures mentioned, I would've loved more on that. The personal anecdotes were also interesting and entertaining, however I felt like she was trying to prove how tough and quirky she is, just like she struggled to prove herself to her boss. Some of the descriptions felt like they were only added for shock value, almost as if to say if you can't handle it you are weak with an unhealthy relationship to death. 

The whole book had this judgemental tone, if you disagreed or had a different relationship with death, you were in denial, or even a bad person. For example, a family who chose a less expensive internet option for their nine year old daughter was judged and berated as being bad parents who didn't care. I can imagine nothing worse than after loosing a child having to go to a funeral home and speak with a clearly judgemental stranger about how much you're willing to spend on the funeral arrangements. All while the judgemental stranger tries to sell you add ons or extras that if you don't get means you are a bad parent who doesn't care. No thank you, I would rather grieve and process the loss surrounded by loved ones. Plus she lacked any empathy that the family may have been forced into such arrangements because they were unable to afford a more expensive, face to face option. 

I also felt like important issues were glossed over.

For example, her suicidal thoughts seemed to just vanish after she decided not to commit suicide, with no mention being made again. No mention was made about recovery, as if it is as easy as just deciding against suicide, which rubbed me the wrong way.

 

Overall this book still got a fairly high rating because of the interesting premise and subject matter, and the structure of being part memoir and part history examination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Dementia, and Terminal illness

annietestin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer, Cannibalism, Dementia, and Suicide

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

marisa_n's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Not for the faint-hearted. This book is a mashup of memoir, politics, science, and history--all related to death, cadavers, and death rituals. This book follows the author's life as she explores her relationship with death, it gives you a peak into her day-to-day life as a mortician, and it her includes her thoughts on death rituals.

I found the information about the day-to-day operations of a crematory interesting and informative. Some of the discussions on culture and politics were also good food for thought. Overall, I learned a great deal while reading this. I also thought the author handled the subject matter respectfully, without making it dry/boring. 

However, as interesting as the subject matter was, I disliked the writing style. I found the storytelling to be jarring, and the transitions non-existent. Her life story is told in a linear fashion, but she consistently breaks into lengthy side tangents (about culture, politics, etc.) that are only tangentially related to the current subject at hand. There also seemed to be little rhyme or reason to her storytelling-- in one sentence she's talking about her day, and the next she's talking about cannibalism. I found these conversational leaps frustrating, as it made it hard to stay engaged in the story. While her main point was clear--we need to become more comfortable with death and re-evaluate our current death rituals--she never truly connected these side-tangents to her thesis. 

Overall, informative read, but it could have benefited from a good editor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, and Dementia