Reviews tagging 'Death'

All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell

77 reviews

mickey09's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

What a great book! An insight into those dedicated people working behind the scenes, with whom without, society would flounder.
I take my hat off to those working without acknowledgment. 
My thanks to Haley for taking me on this weird , wild and interesting ride.
Would recommend to anyone who wants to know more about those working with death everyday or wonders what our path will take from the moment that we die.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cseibs's review against another edition

dark emotional informative fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

thoughtsontomes's review

dark informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

The author interviews multiple people in the death industry, from funeral staff to medical science teams to crime scene cleanup crews to executioners to bereavement midwives and weaves all of these narratives and parts of the death process together. This does have visceral descriptions of these processes so not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, and Murder

britnygottalent's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Excrement, and Abortion

carliethompsonwriting's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

5.0

“Now I see all of it: death shows us what is buried in the living.”

Like many, I am afraid of death. I avoid discussions about grief, and avoid thinking about the death of my loved ones. I bought this book out of morbid curiosity, and i’m so grateful.

For a book about death, this is extremely comforting, and warm. 

Campbell travels the world interviewing people who work in death, dying and bereavement. Although she describes their day to day work in unflinching detail (tw: it may make you squeamish), it never becomes gratuitous. At one point in the book, Campbell sees something that she cannot forget, and this experience haunts the rest of the book. She walks the reader through her emotions, and by the end, you may feel enlightened.

The people that Campbell interviews have lives filled with the grief of others, but they never lose their humanity. This is a book about death, and the people who care for our bodies. While reading it, and hearing the voices of the nameless and faceless figures, I felt warm and comforted. They care, and hold great respect for the people and families that they serve. Knowing that many folks working with death care about the little things, is extremely comforting.

Campbell’s prose is beautiful, and she asks questions that you may be afraid to ask. It’s a poignant, and touching book. This may be one of my favourite books of 2024, and instantly my favourite non-fiction of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Vomit

biblio_lore's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is a thoroughly challenging read, but one that I found extremely empathetic and respectful of the topics and the people that the author interviews.  It will provoke emotional responses that can be difficult, but it is worth it to explore them.  The warnings I included are more meant for anyone on the fence about what they might encounter.  Again, this is a book that might trigger some emotional responses and while I think this is a good thing for someone to reflect on if they are in a healthy state of mind and ready to confront some heavy topics, this can be really hard and potentially really upsetting to someone who isn't emotionally ready for it.  Recommended still.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, and Grief

idun_aurora's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

An insightful read, is how I would describe the experience. The chapter describing the author's meeting and interview with the bereavement midwife left me teary-eyed.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jphillips87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death

aardrian's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

kmoz's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.0

oof

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Blood, and Pregnancy