Running head: Book Review 1

Book Review

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

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Synopsis/Introduction

"Smoke gets in your eyes, and other lessons from the crematorium" is partly a memoir

and also partly tells us the history behind death customs. At the age of 23, Caitlin Doughty had

attained her college undergraduate degree in medieval history while having a lifelong fascination

of with death. As she was convinced and interested in turning her dreams and preoccupation into

a profession, she at last secured a job at Westwind Cremation & Burial in Oakland, California, as

a crematory operator (Doughty, 2014). She learned how to cremate bodies in just a few months

in the job where she started with bigger bodies in the day and babies later in the evening. She

blended bones in a special blender after the oven and also learnt to pick up dead bodies from

family homes where she usually kept to shut her mouth. In this experience, Caitlin Doughty

learnt that dead bodies are not scary and that copious makeup and wired jaws are not attractive

and are less respectful; let the dead be and look well (Chesson & Hollimon, 2001). Caitlin

Doughty also shares different death rituals and mythologies from different historical cultures.

These differ significantly from the western cultural practices and system of beliefs simply

regarded as modern-day methods of disposal that arise from the fear of mortality and the need to

keep or hide the dead away. She believes in having different aspects and ways of handling the

dead and attitude towards mortality. This encompasses kindness, love and life, and her appeal for

new beliefs and cultures to approach the dead and end of life in a way that is simple and

refreshingly frank while being profound (Doughty, 2014).

Aspects of Death and Cremation

Caitlin Doughty developed interest in death and life as she payed attention to death and

its occurrence in daily life. There are three phases of death and cremation that Caitlin Doughty
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depicts in her book. They include physical death, psychological death, and spiritual death

Doughty (2014). Physiological death according to the author occurs when the essential organs no

longer function. The author describes physical death in a way that matches biological and

medical death that includes irreversible loss of brain wave, cessation of respiratory and cardiac

function, and damage to the central nervous system. Physiological death is the life of quasi-

consciousness, living, as if having already died. On the other hand, spiritual death is described as

a transformation old roles, patterns, identities, habits, and the birth of a new individual (Kramer,

1988).

Social death begins much earlier than physiological death. When people begin to

withdraw from someone, social death begins especially for persons diagnosed with terminal

illnesses such as cancer and AIDS. People lack meaningful conversations as doctors and family

spend less time with the patient who is escribed as circling the drain. Finally, psychic death

occurs when the dying person begins to accept death and to withdraw from others and regress

into the self. It occurs long before psychological or social death. People get to control their

timing of death until after some essential occasions in their life or quickly when something bad

happens to them such as losing their loved ones (Chesson & Hollimon, 2001).

Why the author wrote this Book, Effectiveness, and Interesting

I have had more fast-hand experiences with death so have a majority of my friends. By

the time people hit thirty years, they would have lost a number of their family members,

relatives, or close friends. At this point, many people consider becoming grief therapists or

counseling. In the case of Caitlin Doughty, she was convinced and interested in turning her

dreams and preoccupation into a profession, she at last secured a job at Westwind Cremation &
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Burial in Oakland, California, as a crematory operator (Doughty, 2014). Therefore, her objective

of writing this book was to illustrate her desire in death and dead bodies that many people

perceive to be scary. She intended to give people a purpose to pursue their interests regardless of

their cultures and social misconceptions regarding the fear of death.

The book is effective as it has given courage to many people who feared death and lacked

the realities and possibilities. People who have read the book have developed interest in grieving

processes and are more familiar with death than those who have not read the book (Doughty,

2014). Readers have shown their interest and enjoyment after reading the book, thus indicating

its effectiveness and the fact that it is interesting. The book is chock; full of interesting facts

regarding the death industry and the rituals that other cultures perform. For instance, a Brazilian

tribe was to surrender their cannibalism practice. Also, Americans began embalming due to the

high number of death casualties during the Civil War causing an unbearable smell for

transporters (Doughty, 2014). Finally, the book has great sense of humor about a topic most

people fear, without any irreverence.

Initial and final Responses

At first, I was afraid and terrified at the sight of the book being assigned for our class

report. I have always been afraid of the dead and the process of handling dead bodies. The book

handles some things that are upsetting to many people. Furthermore, the sight of morticians has

always scared me as I believed that their presence is always followed by an eminent death. Well,

just like Caitlin was first terrified of death at young age, so was I at my mid age. Therefore, the

atmosphere at the sight of the book sounded like it was Halloween.

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However, tis conception changed as I continued reading the book. It became, fascinating,

interesting, and exciting as the author has used a lot of humor and interesting facts to bring out

her points. I came to understand that worrying and grieving about our lives will come to end

before we achieve our objectives in the world, but it is another thing to attempt to limit or slow

the natural ageing process so as to avoid dealing with death. I found that the author’s stories were

not meant to shock, but to demonstrate the normalcy of death. Therefore, I enjoyed her writing

style, which is engaging and conversational, and I feel like there’s a lot about this book that’s

going to stick with me.

Response from others regarding the Book

Many people have intense fear of death and dying. Since the book is about death, it was

difficult for me to describe it to other people who kept asking what I was currently reading. A

majority of them would give me funny looks when they found out that it was about death and

cremation. However, the came to love it later when I described the book to them since the author

had written it in an interesting manner that provokes thoughts. Since many people fear death, it is

a moving experience for many people who understand it especially for those who have lost their

loved ones in the recent past. They became nervous since death is a devastating loss that can be a

celebration of peace and freedom for the departed. Therefore, the book was able to change the

mindset of many people who doubted it at first as it cleared their misconceptions regarding death

and funerals.

Recommending the Book

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Yes, I would gladly recommend the book to everyone who is scared of death and dying.

Furthermore, I would recommend the book to people who are still grieving for the loss of their

loved ones or those whose loved ones are ailing or suffering from deadly diseases such as AIDS

and cancer. Although the subject matter of the book is gruesome and abrupt that is a person is

squeamish he/she may miss, the author gave terrific honest details of death and life in a

crematory. Her opinion and feelings that are displayed honestly and openly with no disrespect

enables the readers to feel comfortable discussing and experiencing death.

Care for my Body

After death, I cannot actually get to determine what will be done with my body.

However, being alive now, I can only lay down structures and procedures on which my body is

to be handled. From this point, I would prefer my body to be handled by a professional mortician

like Doughty and to for it to be laid to rest peacefully without many procedures such as make-up

and any other decorations. According to Doughty, such processes ruin the body and do not let it

be at peace.

Conclusion

Having completed reading the book by Caitlin Doughty, I am now less afraid of death

than I was before. I think about it as a realistic possibility more than a majority of people as

opposed to being scary, distant, and vague. The book was enjoyable and interesting that I have

recommended it to many peers who have shown fear of death and dying.
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References

Chesson, M. S., & Hollimon, S. E. (2001). Social memory, identity, and death: anthropological

perspectives on mortuary rituals (Vol. 10). Archeological Papers of the American

Anthropological Association No. 10. Arlington, Virginia: American Anthropological

Association.

Doughty, C. (2014). Smoke gets in your eyes: And other lessons from the crematory. WW

Norton & Company.

Kramer, K. (1988). The sacred art of dying: How world religions understand death. Paulist

Press.