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naicrix 's review for:
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
by Caitlin Doughty
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Even though I had to read this for class, I thought it was great. The book revolves around thanatourism, where we follow Doughty as she travels to different parts of the world (including different parts of the U.S) to learn about a culture's death rituals. Each chapter broadened my perspective on different cultural practices and also informed me more about how the death industry in the West often works.
I've been obsessed about this book since I've started it, even talking about it with my partner, friends, and family because it opens up a great conversation. The only thing I didn't really like about this book is Doughty's prose, because it was giving quirky millennial at times, but I was able to look past it.
I would like to mention that I was also disappointed with the lack of African or African derived cultures despite being marketed as her going on a global expedition. I get that traveling to certain places could be hard, especially to view death practices, but the North Carolina chapter really got my hopes up. At this point though, I've learned that "global perspectives" will never include Africa, or just black people in general; and people seem to be fine with that for some reason, so whatever.
I've been obsessed about this book since I've started it, even talking about it with my partner, friends, and family because it opens up a great conversation. The only thing I didn't really like about this book is Doughty's prose, because it was giving quirky millennial at times, but I was able to look past it.
I would like to mention that I was also disappointed with the lack of African or African derived cultures despite being marketed as her going on a global expedition. I get that traveling to certain places could be hard, especially to view death practices, but the North Carolina chapter really got my hopes up. At this point though, I've learned that "global perspectives" will never include Africa, or just black people in general; and people seem to be fine with that for some reason, so whatever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Religious bigotry
Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, Abortion, Death of parent