Define Out Of Books Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
Title | : | Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory |
Author | : | Caitlin Doughty |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 254 pages |
Published | : | September 28th 2015 by W. W. Norton Company (first published September 15th 2014) |
Categories | : | Nonfiction. Autobiography. Memoir. Death. Science. Biography |

Caitlin Doughty
Paperback | Pages: 254 pages Rating: 4.19 | 46756 Users | 6072 Reviews
Commentary Concering Books Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty—a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre—took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters and unforgettable scenes. Caring for dead bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, Caitlin soon becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures. Her eye-opening, candid, and often hilarious story is like going on a journey with your bravest friend to the cemetery at midnight. She demystifies death, leading us behind the black curtain of her unique profession. And she answers questions you didn’t know you had: Can you catch a disease from a corpse? How many dead bodies can you fit in a Dodge van? What exactly does a flaming skull look like? Honest and heartfelt, self-deprecating and ironic, Caitlin's engaging style makes this otherwise taboo topic both approachable and engrossing. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead).Mention Books In Favor Of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
Original Title: | Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory |
ISBN: | 0393351904 (ISBN13: 9780393351903) |
Edition Language: | English URL http://www.caitlindoughty.com |
Literary Awards: | Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Memoir & Autobiography (2014) |
Rating Out Of Books Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
Ratings: 4.19 From 46756 Users | 6072 ReviewsCritique Out Of Books Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
This is a quick read and a relatively light, frothy take on a dark subject. Doughty adopts the authorial persona of "cheerful goth" which largely works for her approach, combining anecdotal accounts of her time in the death industry with repeated polemics to bring death back into our daily awareness through proximity to bodies and decay, a la her "Order of the Good Death." There are some weird tonal shifts that I think may be evidence of clumsy editing (e.g., a single chapter digression aboutWhat does not kill me makes me stronger. NietzscheI was thoroughly impressed by this memoir and social commentary on death and dying written by such a young woman. Caitlin Doughty, at the age of 23, has produced an impressive, well researched commentary on how we as a society perceive death, talk (or not talk) about death, and view the body and what happens post-mortem. She brings the death industry to light as well as the options available for burial or cremation. She speaks frankly and does
Ten months into my job at Westwind, I knew death was the life for me. When Caitlin Doughty took a job at a California crematory, she learned more than just how to dispose of dead bodies. The daily exposure to death changed her thinking on the subject and turned her into a warrior fighting the good fight for the good death. While practicing the process of turning a former human into four to seven pounds of grayish ash and bone, Doughty's way of thinking on the subject began to evolve.Corpses keep

Ive had more first-hand experience with death than just about anyone else I know in my age group. By the time I hit thirty, Id lost three grandparents (five, if you let me count my high-school boyfriends grandparents; they lived with his family), a mother, two high-school friends, a former roommate, an uncle, a dozen great aunts and uncles, three dogs, and a small army of cats. I briefly considered becoming a grief therapist before realizing I was just too misanthropic to pursue graduate studies
Call me morbid? ....ghastly?.....Bonkers? Right after I finished reading the memoir "When Breath Becomes Air", by Paul Kalanithi- a 4th year medical student working at Stanford Hospital ...(only 30 minutes from my house), - who died this year of Lung Cancer.., THIS book arrives in my mail box the SAME day (just 'hours' after I wrote a review for Kalanithi's book) Creepy! AND .....what's even more creepy ... is I don't know who sent me this paper back 'new copy'. Thank You to the Mystery
Have you ever wondered just what happens to your body when you die? Many people avoid thinking about death altogether, uncomfortable as we are with our own demise and that of those we love. Others have a curiosity that is considered macabre and abnormal in our culture. I fluctuate between the two, leaning more heavily towards the latter. Like the author of this book, I think it is better to learn about what happens when we die in order to become comfortable with death. Or as comfortable as is
5 starsFor a serious book about death, I sure did laugh a lot.Originality: ★★★★★Humor: ★★★★★Reflections on existence: ★★★★★I've always been interested in nonfiction books that deal with the "underside" of historythe macabre, the weird, the sexualbecause it's the kind of stuff that you don't learn in school. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is technically a memoir, but its many historical anecdotes and tidbits make it feel like it fits in well with the subgenre. It tackles some big themes: our
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