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A review by argyledinosaur
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
5.0
All I can say after having just finished this book about an hour ago is that I have so much appreciation for the people that travel and learn about other cultures, especially rituals.
I loved reading and learning about how different cultures handle their dead. I love that in Japan they have corpse hotels. I love that in Bolivia they have skulls that are believed to hold some fantastic power to help with a whole array of things. I loved reading about Tibetan sky burials and the Parsi rituals surrounding their Towers of Silence. There is so much information in this book that I could never even begin to unpack it all in this review.
If you choose not to read the gory bits of this book, at least allow yourself the pleasure of reading the powerful epilogue where Caitlin ends it with a call to action. If we want our rituals back, we need to take them back. No more asking nicely, but demanding fiercely to be with our loved ones in the moments leading up to their cremation, brushing our loved one's hair before the funeral, keeping our loved ones in the home for a few hours after they expire, not letting them be ripped away from us before we're even given the chance to register what happened.
This is easily one of my favorite books, I would even go so far as to say it's in the top 5, if not the top 3, and that's really saying something. This book will make you think about how different cultures handle their dead, and how can better handle ours.
I loved reading and learning about how different cultures handle their dead. I love that in Japan they have corpse hotels. I love that in Bolivia they have skulls that are believed to hold some fantastic power to help with a whole array of things. I loved reading about Tibetan sky burials and the Parsi rituals surrounding their Towers of Silence. There is so much information in this book that I could never even begin to unpack it all in this review.
If you choose not to read the gory bits of this book, at least allow yourself the pleasure of reading the powerful epilogue where Caitlin ends it with a call to action. If we want our rituals back, we need to take them back. No more asking nicely, but demanding fiercely to be with our loved ones in the moments leading up to their cremation, brushing our loved one's hair before the funeral, keeping our loved ones in the home for a few hours after they expire, not letting them be ripped away from us before we're even given the chance to register what happened.
This is easily one of my favorite books, I would even go so far as to say it's in the top 5, if not the top 3, and that's really saying something. This book will make you think about how different cultures handle their dead, and how can better handle ours.