Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

78 reviews

angelanoelle's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Child death, and Body horror

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Addiction

Minor: Car accident and Dementia

alexandramillar's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Death

cruelaz's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Dementia, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

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. 

---

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

alicia_m_andrews's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Gore, Car accident, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Medical content, Miscarriage, Grief, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, and Cancer

ht92's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

clarathromycin's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicide

Moderate: Dementia, Sexism, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual harassment

starsreside's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Miscarriage, Animal death, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Dementia

nila's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Sexism, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Addiction, Suicide attempt, and Medical content

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Very intriguing, well written book. Pretty graphic but not for shock value. Caitlin writes about death and the things that she saw working in a crematory in a very matter of fact way that made it so interesting to learn about. Weaving in historical pieces on death practices in different cultures and throughout history was fascinating too. 

There was a pretty abrupt and random chapter with some, in my opinion, unnecessary fatphobic themes, but other than that I really enjoyed the process of reading this book and thinking about death myself. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cancer, Suicide, Body horror, Death of parent, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Child death, Cannibalism, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, and Drug use