A Bit Bookish

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I always find mortician Caitlin Doughty's books interesting. In this, her latest, she continues her examination of how other cultures care for their dead. She goes on a global journey, examining rituals unknown here in the United States. In rural Indonesia they dress the mummified dead's body and it resides in the family home for years. In Bolivia they have wish-granting human skulls and in Tokyo they use chopsticks to pluck their loved ones bones from the crematory ashes. She approaches her subject with great curiosity and trademark humor. She does make some important criticisms of the American funeral industry that is expensive, impersonal, and fosters a fear of death that she says inhibits our ability to cope and mourn. A fascinating read.


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