laurenkd89's review
5.0
SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES is the perfect title for this darkly funny, morbid, honest book about what it’s like to work at a crematory. Doughty was only 23 when she started working for Westwind, a funeral home and crematory in Oakland, CA. Ever since she was a young girl, she was enraptured by the concept of death and mortality, even volunteering to work in a hospital morgue for her mandatory high school service hours.
This book is a collection of sometimes humorous, sometimes ghastly stories about death, corpses, and cremation - answering questions you never even knew you had about how bodies that die at home get transported across Bay Area traffic to the crematory, where stillborn corpses go after being pronounced dead (the answer to this one involves a cardboard box and a makeshift mortar and pestle), and what the unnatural process of “prettying up” a body for viewing looks like. She does not shy away from the realities of mortuary life; prepare yourself for all the hairy details of death and dying, even the ones you could probably go without reading. You will read simple, throwaway phrases like “I had people dust all over me” or “climbing my way up the death industry.” I don’t want to give away any of the stories out of fear of trivializing or sensationalizing the details; Doughty doesn’t treat it as a spectacle - she just tells the truth. She must have a sense of humor and detachment from her job; emotions, sorrow, and grieving would make her very necessary job impossible.
This book is also a sort of anthropological meditation on the cultural norms and practices around death - how modern American citizens are completely afraid, sheltered, and ignorant of our impending mortality, and how other cultures and time periods throughout history have embraced death, celebrated death, treated death as a sacred ritual, or straight up have not had the luxury of avoiding the sight of dead, decomposing bodies. She says of the American attitudes around death, “There has never been a time in the history of the world when a culture has broken so completely with traditional methods of body disposition and beliefs surrounding mortality.” Doughty’s stories range from the funerary cannibalism of the Guaraní people, the common sight of dead bodies in the Ganges River in modern-day Varanasi, and the Islamic ritual washing on corpses called ghusl mayyit. She supplements these with philosophical treatises by a variety of scholars, as well as experiences from her own life.
Although you will certainly stop at some point in the book and ask yourself, “What the f*ck am I reading about right now?!,” this book is certainly worth it. I’ve never thought about this fact before - but we do need to make ourselves more comfortable and familiar with the idea of death; it’s a luxury to remain as ignorant as we are right now. Doughty makes you want to out and get a job at a crematory right this second - or at least take a minute and learn about your death rights under state law, and not give into the “death industrial complex.”
Audiobook Note:
Doughty herself narrates this book and does a fantastic job. She knows exactly what all these real-life characters in her life sound like, so it does add another bit of verisimilitude to the story.
This book is a collection of sometimes humorous, sometimes ghastly stories about death, corpses, and cremation - answering questions you never even knew you had about how bodies that die at home get transported across Bay Area traffic to the crematory, where stillborn corpses go after being pronounced dead (the answer to this one involves a cardboard box and a makeshift mortar and pestle), and what the unnatural process of “prettying up” a body for viewing looks like. She does not shy away from the realities of mortuary life; prepare yourself for all the hairy details of death and dying, even the ones you could probably go without reading. You will read simple, throwaway phrases like “I had people dust all over me” or “climbing my way up the death industry.” I don’t want to give away any of the stories out of fear of trivializing or sensationalizing the details; Doughty doesn’t treat it as a spectacle - she just tells the truth. She must have a sense of humor and detachment from her job; emotions, sorrow, and grieving would make her very necessary job impossible.
This book is also a sort of anthropological meditation on the cultural norms and practices around death - how modern American citizens are completely afraid, sheltered, and ignorant of our impending mortality, and how other cultures and time periods throughout history have embraced death, celebrated death, treated death as a sacred ritual, or straight up have not had the luxury of avoiding the sight of dead, decomposing bodies. She says of the American attitudes around death, “There has never been a time in the history of the world when a culture has broken so completely with traditional methods of body disposition and beliefs surrounding mortality.” Doughty’s stories range from the funerary cannibalism of the Guaraní people, the common sight of dead bodies in the Ganges River in modern-day Varanasi, and the Islamic ritual washing on corpses called ghusl mayyit. She supplements these with philosophical treatises by a variety of scholars, as well as experiences from her own life.
Although you will certainly stop at some point in the book and ask yourself, “What the f*ck am I reading about right now?!,” this book is certainly worth it. I’ve never thought about this fact before - but we do need to make ourselves more comfortable and familiar with the idea of death; it’s a luxury to remain as ignorant as we are right now. Doughty makes you want to out and get a job at a crematory right this second - or at least take a minute and learn about your death rights under state law, and not give into the “death industrial complex.”
Audiobook Note:
Doughty herself narrates this book and does a fantastic job. She knows exactly what all these real-life characters in her life sound like, so it does add another bit of verisimilitude to the story.
rebeccamn's review
3.0
I appreciated that this book made me think about death in a more accepting way, and about the details of what I'd want for my own death. It got a little sales-y feeling at the end, but it's highly possible/likely that is because my upper-Midwestern female self is uncomfortable with people speaking positively about themselves. I liked the stories and the general tone of the book a lot.
theneener's review
4.0
An easy read on a hard topic. I rarely think about death and the process (either on the living or the dead) that follows, but this book has changed that. Why don't we talk about death more often? Why does our culture clean up and hide death from daily life? Definitely a book to share with loved ones so that you may all discuss and plan your own Good Death.
caitlinwhetten's review
4.0
Ooh boy.
I know the author warns you before you go in, but I clearly overestimated myself. I'm someone who's never had to go to a funeral or had anyone that I really cared about die so death and everything associated with it is something I've never had to experience and am frightened by. So this book was a great cathartic release for that fear and kinda gave me a glimpse into that experience, which I'm really grateful for.
I think the author is far more comfortable with corpses and rotting and the natural disintegration of the body than I will ever be, but it was a really eye-opening experience to hear her story. She is really blunt and straightforward about what her job entails. The burning babies chapter got to me and was not something that I was prepared for or had even crossed my mind going into this book, but it's a harsh reality and part of her job and I'm glad she didn't skim over it.
Overall though, I really like Caitlin Doughty's work and I'm glad this book exists even if it made me uncomfortable.
I know the author warns you before you go in, but I clearly overestimated myself. I'm someone who's never had to go to a funeral or had anyone that I really cared about die so death and everything associated with it is something I've never had to experience and am frightened by. So this book was a great cathartic release for that fear and kinda gave me a glimpse into that experience, which I'm really grateful for.
I think the author is far more comfortable with corpses and rotting and the natural disintegration of the body than I will ever be, but it was a really eye-opening experience to hear her story. She is really blunt and straightforward about what her job entails. The burning babies chapter got to me and was not something that I was prepared for or had even crossed my mind going into this book, but it's a harsh reality and part of her job and I'm glad she didn't skim over it.
Overall though, I really like Caitlin Doughty's work and I'm glad this book exists even if it made me uncomfortable.
nathaliap's review against another edition
4.0
Um livros com bastante reflexões legais sobre a morte e como lidamos com ela atualmente. Senti a leitura meio arrastada em algumas partes, mas do meio para o final se tornou mais interessante e fluida a leitura!
citronmads's review
2.0
I was really interested in the topic and this book came highly recommended from friends, but the author performed fake accents in the audiobook. This was very off-putting. I did not finish it.