Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

83 reviews

jewelboops's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

changed my whole brain. <3 i had such a great and satisfying time with this book and i think everyone should give it a read 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Grief

aquakerwitch's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia

jenniferlynnkrohn's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Grief

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".

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Drug use

zarazim's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Fatphobia, and Gore

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Cannibalism

amelialincoln's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Gore and Grief

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

annietestin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, Dementia, and Cannibalism

rachaeldamms's review against another edition

challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt