Reviews tagging 'Death'

Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me about Caring for the Living by Robert A. Jensen

11 reviews

swamprat410's review

dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sharpgirl's review

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

lilla_my's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

I was really excited for this book but it ended up being disappointing. This book had SO MUCH potential!! I think the problem with the book doesn't lie with the author or his retelling of events, but with the editor. There were grammatical mistakes and there were parts that should've been taken out or abridged, things that should've been rearranged, etc. Sometimes it felt like awkward journal entries rather than a memoir or a book on mass fatality incidents.
I hope the author continues to write nonfiction and that if he publishes another book, it ends up in the hands of a better editor.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide, Police brutality, and Mass/school shootings

angelgriego's review

funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

clarabooksit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

Jensen has dedicated his life to an important and fascinating job. Here he details some of the most horrific and tragic mass fatalities in the last several decades with sensitivity, grace, and unwavering respect for both the living and the dead. There were parts of this book I could not put down.

However, I find I have to agree with many other reviewers that this needed better editing: there are so many repetitions—some passages are nearly verbatim in two or more chapters—and there are parts that feel anecdotal, even superficial, where I wanted more information, depth and nuance.

I’m glad I read it, though, and I’d still recommend it. It’s a good read but maybe not an exceptional one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

lord_morpheus's review

dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

bronzemist's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

queenqueso's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

A heavy read for sure, but one with equal parts intense emotion and calm understanding. Definitely heed content warnings but still worth a read .

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

kingsrule21's review

slow-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

sincerelymarinakate's review

challenging dark emotional informative

4.0

 A poignant memoir about the author’s career working in the recovery of the deceased after mass casualty events. A topic that could feel too heavy quickly or easily be handled clumsily is beautifully written about here. The writing was precise and while maintaining empathy for the people discussed. This book covers things that most of us have probably never thought about and are glad to not have to be experienced in. It is an unflinching look at death and often quite brutal death at that. Some chapters cover the aftermath of natural disasters and some cover terrorist attacks or other human caused catastrophes. The memoir looks at the events and balances personal recollections and stories with facts about the aftermath of the tragedy and the ways that the handling of it by all involved helped or hindered the healing of those most affected. It’s as dark as you’d imagine but if you feel you can handle it is a worthy addition to your reading list.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC audiobook. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail