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mermaidsherbet's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Vomit, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Excrement
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Body shaming, and Grief
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
h001's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cannibalism, Child death, and Body horror
constellation_library's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This one was quite a good read. I'm not usually one for nonfiction, but the macabre nature of this drew me in. I do think that there was not enough emotion invested in dealing with the dead on the part of the narrator, but that is personal taste. I recognize that keeping an emotional wall up is likely essential to being in the death business. I learned so much and found the author's voice engaging, despite the sometimes difficult subject matter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
abookperson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This book was great! Great because I realised how much I don't know about something I should be more in touch with. Caitlin talks about society being pushed away from the ideas of death and in doing so, we become more afraid of it. It reminded me of when I was a kid and having to stay behind with my cousins while our parents went to a funeral of someone they knew. Now, it could have been because the family didn't want unnecessary trouble with kids, but it could have also been because "children shouldn't be exposed to death at such a young age". While I agree that too much death and violence causing death, could lead to some trauma, allowing children to understand when someone died, and that they can grieve or ask any questions they have is very positive and open. I loved just hearing Caitlin use the knowledge she'd picked up through the experience at Westwind and mortuary school, with research and information about rituals from around the world (present and past) and relating that to her life. It felt like such a connect and meant sometimes I could relate but always understand. I also loved the research about death rituals from around the world, from present day to past - it was my favourite part of the book. Not only that but the quotes and industry information, and how they can prey on your grief; Caitlin not bashing the industry, just simply acknowledging that they have the ability to take advantage. I took so long to finish this book because each chapter felt so heavy - I had to take in so much information and really think over it - but that's not a bad thing at all. The beginning and the end of the book were very personable, which I didn't mind and even liked at the beginning, but once I'd got to the middle and discovered facts and information about the death industry, while I like and agree with the majority of Caitlins opinions, I only wanted more facts and wisdom rather than being hired by a company and wanting Luke but not getting him. However, I did also cry at the last few pages so.
My favourite quotes:
'The Bay's current fulfilled feminist Camille Paglia's lament: "Human beings are not nature's favourites. We are merely one of a multitude of species upon which nature indiscriminately exerts its force."'
'Bodies cremated in full, heads donated to science, babies, and some woman's amputated leg all come out looking the same in the end. Sifting through an urn of cremated remains you cannot tell if a person had successes, failures, grandchildren, felonies. "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." As an adult human, your dust is the same as my dust, four to seven pounds of greyish ash and bone.'
'In many ways, women are death's natural companions. Every time a woman gives birth, she is creating not only a life, but also a death. Samuel Beckett wrote that women "give birth astride of a grave." Mother Nature is indeed a real mother, creating and destroying in a constant loop.'
'Death might appear to destroy the meaning in our lives, but in fact it is the very source of our creativity. As Kafka said, "The meaning of life is that it ends." Death is the engine that keeps us running, giving us the motivation to achieve, learn, love, and create. Philosophers have proclaimed this for thousands of years just as vehemently as we insist upon ignoring it generation after generation. Isaac was getting his PhD, exploring the boundaries of science, making music because of the inspiration death provided. If he lived forever, chances are he would be rendered boring, listless, and unmotivated, robbed of life's richness by dull routine. The great achievements of humanity were born out of the deadlines imposed by death. He didn't seem to realise the fire beneath his ass was mortality-the very thing he was attempting to defeat.'
'At the moment I was alive with blood coursing through my veins, floating above the putrefaction below, many potential tomorrows on my mind. Yes, my projects could lie fragmented and unfinished after my death. Unable to choose how I would die physically, I could only choose how I would die mentally. Whether my mortality caught me at twenty-eight or ninety-three, I made the choice to die content, slipped into the nothingness, my atoms becoming the very fog that cloaked the trees. The silence of death, of the cemetery, was no punishment, but a reward for a life well lived.'
I WILL READ THIS BOOK AGAIN.
My favourite quotes:
'The Bay's current fulfilled feminist Camille Paglia's lament: "Human beings are not nature's favourites. We are merely one of a multitude of species upon which nature indiscriminately exerts its force."'
'Bodies cremated in full, heads donated to science, babies, and some woman's amputated leg all come out looking the same in the end. Sifting through an urn of cremated remains you cannot tell if a person had successes, failures, grandchildren, felonies. "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." As an adult human, your dust is the same as my dust, four to seven pounds of greyish ash and bone.'
'In many ways, women are death's natural companions. Every time a woman gives birth, she is creating not only a life, but also a death. Samuel Beckett wrote that women "give birth astride of a grave." Mother Nature is indeed a real mother, creating and destroying in a constant loop.'
'Death might appear to destroy the meaning in our lives, but in fact it is the very source of our creativity. As Kafka said, "The meaning of life is that it ends." Death is the engine that keeps us running, giving us the motivation to achieve, learn, love, and create. Philosophers have proclaimed this for thousands of years just as vehemently as we insist upon ignoring it generation after generation. Isaac was getting his PhD, exploring the boundaries of science, making music because of the inspiration death provided. If he lived forever, chances are he would be rendered boring, listless, and unmotivated, robbed of life's richness by dull routine. The great achievements of humanity were born out of the deadlines imposed by death. He didn't seem to realise the fire beneath his ass was mortality-the very thing he was attempting to defeat.'
'At the moment I was alive with blood coursing through my veins, floating above the putrefaction below, many potential tomorrows on my mind. Yes, my projects could lie fragmented and unfinished after my death. Unable to choose how I would die physically, I could only choose how I would die mentally. Whether my mortality caught me at twenty-eight or ninety-three, I made the choice to die content, slipped into the nothingness, my atoms becoming the very fog that cloaked the trees. The silence of death, of the cemetery, was no punishment, but a reward for a life well lived.'
I WILL READ THIS BOOK AGAIN.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Dementia and Terminal illness
lailams's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I didn't think I'd ever describe a book about funerals as "funny" - let alone enjoy it - yet here we are. Caitlin Doughty masterfully crafted the reflective journey of a lifetime (death time?) in my eyes. I picked it up thinking 'huh, I suppose I don't know much about the funeral industry, I'm sure information on it would come in handy' and put it down a changed person, a semi-revolutonist ready to call every person I know and talk about our shamed, silent culture around death. I've talked about death with my mom and sister quite a bit - we've all known forever that we wanted natural burials - but the layers that this book will add to our conversations (and my personal conversations with myself) about our deaths is frankly irreplaceable. I'm thankful to have read this book. I would like to say I've come out of this book comfortable with my mortality, but I don't think that's the case. It'll take me a lot longer to undo the cultural brainwashing that has told me to fear death for so long. But I'm ready to start on the journey. Oddly enough, this book about death has made me excited to live and learn. It's been so long since a book has genuinely, existentially impacted me like this - it's an easy 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Excrement, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Vomit and Gore
kb_sherman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
elizlizabeth's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I saw many of my concerns and thoughts about death reflected and answered in this book, and I was given lots more to ponder. Caitlin has a way of writing these things nonchalantly and straight to the facts, while mantaining an engaging and eerie, reflective vibe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Vomit, Trafficking, Cancer, and Miscarriage
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: Death, Child death, Suicide, Grief, Terminal illness, and Body horror
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Drug abuse
_forestofpages's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Body horror
This book is incredible. A real look at death and a thought provoking novel about mortality and the "death industry". Everyone should read this.