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marenmoose's review against another edition
4.0
Different from my usual read, a little squeamish at parts; and yet a really good book. An interesting conversation around death and society's proximity to death.
painausten's review against another edition
4.0
As someone who has always felt detached from their body, my death was never something I feared or thought about in depth. In the last few months I’ve felt differently and this book helped me face some of those anxieties head on.
abbypar11's review against another edition
4.0
Listen, I don't know why, but I loved this book! Okay, I do know why, it was a fascinating dive into death, and appealed not only to my morbid interest but also forced me to face some questions I've wanted to ask, but have been to afraid to.
As I get older, I am faced with mortality more and more, especially after these last few pandemic years. This book takes a lot of the stigma away from death rituals, and I found it FASCINATING!
As I get older, I am faced with mortality more and more, especially after these last few pandemic years. This book takes a lot of the stigma away from death rituals, and I found it FASCINATING!
lisrfp's review against another edition
5.0
Great read
Thought-provoking and fun to read, Smoke is a book that is easy to recommend, although not for the faint of heart.
Thought-provoking and fun to read, Smoke is a book that is easy to recommend, although not for the faint of heart.
ashley_kelmore's review against another edition
5.0
Last year I reviewed a book about a forensic anthropologist, where I mentioned I do work related to death. It is one part of what I do, and (at least for now) has never actually involved me providing after-death care, or even arranging for it. It’s a possibility, though. And it is a field that I find unendingly interesting.
I can’t remember who recommended this book to me, but I’d like to say thank you. Its premise is one young woman’s experience working in a crematory. Most of the book – I’d say maybe 70% - involves stories from her time there, seamlessly woven with interesting notes about how different cultures have handled death of the millennia. She does a really fantastic job at this, especially since this is her first book. The book takes a bit of a shift towards the dark about three-quarters of the way through (I know, how much darker can it get? It’s a book about death! But it does), but it finishes up nicely.
Ms. Doughty’s book points out all of the ways that we have turned death into something to be hidden and feared. This is a relatively new construction – at least the hidden part. Many cultures have feared death forever, and some have just seen it as a way of life. Ms. Doughty, while a part of the death care industry, learns through her experiences that she wants to provide a different way of understanding and recognizing death. I’ve not yet read any of her blog posts (http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/) but I plan to, because I find her perspective interesting.
I bought this book at 1 P.M. today; I’m writing the review just before 6 P.M. I literally only put the book down to use the bathroom and to fold some laundry. That’s it. And at 240 pages, it’s not a short book. But it’s an interesting one, and one that I think has value not just for those who find the death care industry interesting, but for those who think that maybe there’s something missing from how we handle death in the U.S.
I can’t remember who recommended this book to me, but I’d like to say thank you. Its premise is one young woman’s experience working in a crematory. Most of the book – I’d say maybe 70% - involves stories from her time there, seamlessly woven with interesting notes about how different cultures have handled death of the millennia. She does a really fantastic job at this, especially since this is her first book. The book takes a bit of a shift towards the dark about three-quarters of the way through (I know, how much darker can it get? It’s a book about death! But it does), but it finishes up nicely.
Ms. Doughty’s book points out all of the ways that we have turned death into something to be hidden and feared. This is a relatively new construction – at least the hidden part. Many cultures have feared death forever, and some have just seen it as a way of life. Ms. Doughty, while a part of the death care industry, learns through her experiences that she wants to provide a different way of understanding and recognizing death. I’ve not yet read any of her blog posts (http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/) but I plan to, because I find her perspective interesting.
I bought this book at 1 P.M. today; I’m writing the review just before 6 P.M. I literally only put the book down to use the bathroom and to fold some laundry. That’s it. And at 240 pages, it’s not a short book. But it’s an interesting one, and one that I think has value not just for those who find the death care industry interesting, but for those who think that maybe there’s something missing from how we handle death in the U.S.
alwayslivedinthecastle's review against another edition
Releasing this one back into the wild. I keep reading a page then putting it down and my interest has totally gone. Sorry!
juushika's review against another edition
4.0
A memoir of one woman's experience as a crematory operator, and her evolving opinions on how death is treated in Western culture. I came to this familiar with Doughty's YouTube videos; Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is more of the same: a heartfelt, morbidly funny, honest study of Western death culture, and a critique of how it distances us from death. This memoir offers a more cogent, engaging, but not particularly provoking personal story; as a result, there's less space to engage a large-scale argument about death culture--in particular, I'd've liked to have seen less about Doughty's progression and more about how the reader, too, can engage and change. But my quibbles are minor: this remains a swift and engaging read, possessing of a fluid voice and inarguably heartfelt, and that I fail to find it revelatory is only because Doughty's work elsewhere has already opened my eyes. If you haven't yet contemplated death culture, then this is an accessible beginning.
shaisten96's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death