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A review by tetrapakk
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
I had really high hopes for this book, especially since so many people described it as "eye-opening" and "revolutionary".
Well, it certainly was really interesting. Through this book I have learnt a lot about death and the death Industry and it prompted further research on my side. It is always interesting to hear from experts in their field!
The thing I didnt really like though, was the writing style. It often felt stiff and blocky to me, she sometimes just jumped from one topic to another and back and most of her humor just didnt land with me.
Also I found some passages to be completely unnecessary. Why does the reader need to know about her roomate crying over a man one night, when she is literally never mentioned again? If she isnt relevant for your life, why write her into your memoir? Only for a bad joke about her not being a lesbian anymore?
Some of her takes in this book were also kind of weird.
When an able bodied woman died and left her disabled husband behind, she writes the he should have been the first one to go.
Additionall she often kind of sped through different arguments without much explanation, sometimes just stating her opinion in one sentence and moving on to the next one. I would have liked it more if she choose lesser topics and explained them with more detail. It just felt like a lot of loose ends for me.
What also bothered me was that her opinions were often presented as facts.
This sounds really negative but the book is nice and Id definitely recommend it for diving into the topic of death! Just think critically about what youre reading.
Well, it certainly was really interesting. Through this book I have learnt a lot about death and the death Industry and it prompted further research on my side. It is always interesting to hear from experts in their field!
The thing I didnt really like though, was the writing style. It often felt stiff and blocky to me, she sometimes just jumped from one topic to another and back and most of her humor just didnt land with me.
Also I found some passages to be completely unnecessary. Why does the reader need to know about her roomate crying over a man one night, when she is literally never mentioned again? If she isnt relevant for your life, why write her into your memoir? Only for a bad joke about her not being a lesbian anymore?
Some of her takes in this book were also kind of weird.
When an able bodied woman died and left her disabled husband behind, she writes the he should have been the first one to go.
Additionall she often kind of sped through different arguments without much explanation, sometimes just stating her opinion in one sentence and moving on to the next one. I would have liked it more if she choose lesser topics and explained them with more detail. It just felt like a lot of loose ends for me.
What also bothered me was that her opinions were often presented as facts.
This sounds really negative but the book is nice and Id definitely recommend it for diving into the topic of death! Just think critically about what youre reading.