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A review by bookverm
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
A very important look at how the way we do things in the U.S. when it comes to death and funerals isn’t the only way things have to be.
I really enjoyed Caitlin’s journey through various cultures and how they handle their dead, plus how they handle the families of the dead. A very poignant look into how here in the U.S. we’ve become culturally distanced from and afraid of death. She stresses the importance of how seeing death, being close to death, and allowing space and time to actually grieve properly and be with the body, instead of separated from it, can help us grieve and heal.
It definitely opened my eyes to new ways I’d like to demand the bodies of my loved ones, and my own self, be treated in death.
I actually think it could have been a bit longer - I found myself wanting to learn more about each culture’s practices and having to do some research on my own afterwards.
If you’ve read Caitlin’s first book, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, I would say this was a less descriptively gory, though it does still describe bodies and some states of decay. It also does bring up some emotions so while I would describe it as a “quick read,” and Caitlin injects some humor and a lighthearted tone, I actually put the book down for a while and then came back to it because reading about death in this way can be a bit heavy.
I really enjoyed Caitlin’s journey through various cultures and how they handle their dead, plus how they handle the families of the dead. A very poignant look into how here in the U.S. we’ve become culturally distanced from and afraid of death. She stresses the importance of how seeing death, being close to death, and allowing space and time to actually grieve properly and be with the body, instead of separated from it, can help us grieve and heal.
It definitely opened my eyes to new ways I’d like to demand the bodies of my loved ones, and my own self, be treated in death.
I actually think it could have been a bit longer - I found myself wanting to learn more about each culture’s practices and having to do some research on my own afterwards.
If you’ve read Caitlin’s first book, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, I would say this was a less descriptively gory, though it does still describe bodies and some states of decay. It also does bring up some emotions so while I would describe it as a “quick read,” and Caitlin injects some humor and a lighthearted tone, I actually put the book down for a while and then came back to it because reading about death in this way can be a bit heavy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Death