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A review by mstewa02
All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell
5.0
Oh my god I loved this book.
My childhood contained a lot of death in a short amount of time and it greatly impacted how I view death as an adult. I picked up this book to force myself to stare some of that in the face, but instead I found myself feeling compassion towards the nuances of death, and learning way more about what happens to bodies once they die than I ever imagined. This book so carefully examines the lives of the people whose job is in death and all of the lengths they go to in order to care for people even after they’re gone.
For me, this excerpt perfectly summarized what I took from this book:
“Now I see all of it: death shows us what is buried in the living. By shielding ourselves from what happens past the moment of death we deny ourselves a deeper understanding of who we truly are. ‘Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness, the tender mercy of its people, their respect for the low of the land and their loyalty to high ideals,’ goes the William Gladstone quote…We are cheating ourselves out of knowing this, with our system of payments and disappearances. These unseen acts of care, the tender mercies of these death workers, show not a cold detachment from their work, but the opposite—some kind of love.” -page 234
*This book certainly isn’t for everyone and it should probably be read at a strategic point in your life. I would also add a TW for miscarriages and stillbirths.
My childhood contained a lot of death in a short amount of time and it greatly impacted how I view death as an adult. I picked up this book to force myself to stare some of that in the face, but instead I found myself feeling compassion towards the nuances of death, and learning way more about what happens to bodies once they die than I ever imagined. This book so carefully examines the lives of the people whose job is in death and all of the lengths they go to in order to care for people even after they’re gone.
For me, this excerpt perfectly summarized what I took from this book:
“Now I see all of it: death shows us what is buried in the living. By shielding ourselves from what happens past the moment of death we deny ourselves a deeper understanding of who we truly are. ‘Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness, the tender mercy of its people, their respect for the low of the land and their loyalty to high ideals,’ goes the William Gladstone quote…We are cheating ourselves out of knowing this, with our system of payments and disappearances. These unseen acts of care, the tender mercies of these death workers, show not a cold detachment from their work, but the opposite—some kind of love.” -page 234
*This book certainly isn’t for everyone and it should probably be read at a strategic point in your life. I would also add a TW for miscarriages and stillbirths.