A review by acouplereadss
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

dark funny informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Caitlin Doughty has always been fascinated with death. After completing her medieval history degree she takes a job at a crematory. It was at the crematory that she learned to navigate the very secretive world of death. This memoir/coming of age story shows us what’s behind the proverbial death curtain. From transporting the recently deceased and caring for dead bodies to cleaning out the ashes from cremation machines, Caitlin shares stories from her experiences and demystifies death. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is honest, humorous and heartfelt, making this taboo topic more approachable.

Although the subject matter is at times hard to stomach, Doughty writes about it with humour and wit while managing to be respectful and sensitive at the same time. The last time I was this pulled into a nonfiction book was when I read Stiff, pictured here, which coincidentally is also about death - more specifically what happens to your body when you donate it to science - okay maybeeee there’s a pattern here…😅.

I learned so much from this book, from the Wari’ tribes cannibalistic rituals in respect to the dead, the practice of embalming, what exactly is the process of cremation, the Tibetan monks traditions with death, and so much more! Doughty’s view of death into our societies methods was really interesting and eye opening. If you’re not squeamish or want to be challenge with a nonfiction read I highly recommend it!

I think this may be my favourite read this year! I was absolutely fascinated with the topic and engrossed in the writing, 5✨! I can’t wait to get my hands on her other work and to see my weird nonfiction collection keep growing.