Afraid of death? No? Um, yeah, no, me neither.
This book was such a fun and thought-provoking exploration of how our society views death, or, to put it more accurately, how it doesn’t view death. We like to keep death, dying, and all its related consequences out of our purview, thank you very much. Death is something that happens to...other people. Right? RIGHT?!
In her book, Doughty shares her experiences of working in an Oakland crematory and all her close brushes with the dead. She, like many people, was afraid of death, but rather than ignoring it, decided to stare Yorick right in the eye sockets. We often see death as something to be feared, dreaded, avoided, ignored, but whether we like it or not, the reaper comes for us all, and Doughty provides a way not just to view death but how to process, grieve, and come to terms with our own mortality. Through her anecdotes, Doughty shares her own journey with the concept of death and challenges us to go on one of our own.
Review by Andrew
Find Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty at one of our branches or on Hoopla.