Traveling the world to find the good death!
Dates read: April 3 - April 15
Genre(s): nonfiction, travel, (auto)biography
Rating: 5 stars (it was amazing)
Everyone needs to read this beauty!
It was intriguing and eye-opening to learn about various death rituals and deathcare methods in other cultures—as well as my own. As someone who already knows she wants an inexpensive natural/“green” burial with no casket and no embalming, it was refreshing to read that the practice is becoming a bit more common in America, even with its booming and outrageously expensive funeral business.
I was completely fascinated and engrossed by each region’s deathcare practice, from Mexico to Japan to Colorado and more. The author (who owns her very own funeral home in Los Angeles) leaves no detail behind. Whereas many Americans (not I) would shudder at the thought of some of the rituals mentioned in this book, Doughty opens minds to the possibility that they aren’t so “weird” or “wrong.” She mentions that there should be no shame in grief or how long it lasts, and that we as humans should be more involved in the deathcare of our own loved ones. Doing so will help remove our fear and shame surrounding death.
Let's bust taboos!
Let's abandon the expensive, unnecessary, and harmful traditions of embalming and caskets!
Caitlin Doughty wants us to know that there isn’t any one way to care for our dead, and sometimes the “best” way is not the mainstream. Her adventures and conclusions are interesting, humorous, and beautiful. I love this book, and I want to know more about how death and the dead are treated around the world! Hopefully she will be able to travel more to write a continuation one day.
I also loved the additions of the “How to be a Good Thanotourist” guide and the fill-in death plan at the very end of the book. I'm excited to delve into her other two books: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? very soon!
You can also view Caitlin's YouTube Channel, Ask a Mortician, here. I highly recommend checking it out--very interesting stuff!
It was intriguing and eye-opening to learn about various death rituals and deathcare methods in other cultures—as well as my own. As someone who already knows she wants an inexpensive natural/“green” burial with no casket and no embalming, it was refreshing to read that the practice is becoming a bit more common in America, even with its booming and outrageously expensive funeral business.
I was completely fascinated and engrossed by each region’s deathcare practice, from Mexico to Japan to Colorado and more. The author (who owns her very own funeral home in Los Angeles) leaves no detail behind. Whereas many Americans (not I) would shudder at the thought of some of the rituals mentioned in this book, Doughty opens minds to the possibility that they aren’t so “weird” or “wrong.” She mentions that there should be no shame in grief or how long it lasts, and that we as humans should be more involved in the deathcare of our own loved ones. Doing so will help remove our fear and shame surrounding death.
Let's bust taboos!
Let's abandon the expensive, unnecessary, and harmful traditions of embalming and caskets!
Caitlin Doughty wants us to know that there isn’t any one way to care for our dead, and sometimes the “best” way is not the mainstream. Her adventures and conclusions are interesting, humorous, and beautiful. I love this book, and I want to know more about how death and the dead are treated around the world! Hopefully she will be able to travel more to write a continuation one day.
I also loved the additions of the “How to be a Good Thanotourist” guide and the fill-in death plan at the very end of the book. I'm excited to delve into her other two books: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? very soon!
You can also view Caitlin's YouTube Channel, Ask a Mortician, here. I highly recommend checking it out--very interesting stuff!