Caitlin Doughty was born and raised in Hawaii before gaining a degree in Medieval History from the University of Chicago. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she owns an alternative funeral home, Undertaking LA. She is the creator of the 'Ask a Mortician' web series, the founder of the death acceptance collective The Order of the Good Dead and co-founder of Death Salon.
A zingy, fresh and possibly even important book about death . . .
This book might change your life
* * Evening Standard * *
Upbeat, brave and brilliantly, morbidly curious . . . Important and
timely
* * Sunday Times * *
A well-researched, beautifully observed book and Doughty is a
convincing and impassioned advocate for changes in our cultural
attitudes towards death . . . There's much to enjoy in this
thoughtful, unflinching and highly entertaining memoir
* * Observer * *
Absolutely and utterly life affirming . . . Nothing is off limits .
. . And yet all of it is written with the utmost respect . . .
There are many moments that moved me . . . Doughty's language is
full of the notion of care
* * Scotsman * *
Funny but not flippant, sometimes painful, but rightly so, and
always compelling
* * Literary Review * *
Frank . . . philosophical . . . engaging and even wicked
* * New York Times * *
Acerbic, hilarious, and thoughtful . . . Doughty's feisty but
lovable personality shines through, and that would be enough for a
decent memoir, but she does so much more here. The author uses her
own life as a jumping off point in this beautifully crafted piece
of writing, dovetailing her own observations with the work of
psychologists, literary figures, industry professionals,
philosophers, and religious leaders to argue coherently and
convincingly that the impersonal, big business model of the funeral
industry is robbing us of a vital component of the human
experience. She argues that only by facing our mortality and
becoming intimate with the idea of death can we live our lives to
the fullest, and it's hard to argue with her
* * Independent * *
Eye-opening, cringe-inducing, often hilarious, occasionally
haunting, always insightful
*DAVID EAGLEMAN*
Caitlin Doughty blows a huge matter-of-fact hole in the grim
curtain of silence surrounding the death industry - and what a
blessed relief that is. This book absolutely must be read, if only
to remind all of us that exercise, organic food and plastic surgery
only work up to a point. Doughty is my kind of death crusader -
compassionate, unblinking and very, very funny
*MEG ROSOFF*
Caitlin Doughty is not what I imagine a funeral director to be . .
. she is funny, young and enthusiastic, the same characteristics
that infuse her memoir
* * Sunday Times * *
Strange and funny. It may well blow your mind wide open
* * Flavorwire * *
[Doughty's] sincere, hilarious, and perhaps life-altering memoir is
a must-read for anyone who plans on dying
* * Booklist * *
Arresting . . . refreshing . . . riveting
* * Grazia * *
Timely, funny, honest and interesting, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is
an enormously helpful contribution to the current taboo-breaking
debate about death
*Virginia Ironside*
With the dark wit you might expect from an undertaker and the
compassion and insight you might not, strong storytelling and vivid
descriptions, she displays a protective mechanism that the
psychologists seem to have forgotten - humour
* * New Scientist * *
Brave and fascinating . . . unusually funny
* * Daily Mail * *
A death-changing book . . . It is impossible not to be inspired by
Doughty's commitment to her cause
* * The Times * *
Often funny . . . yet never irreverent
* * Irish Sunday Independent * *
A book as graphic and morbid as this one could easily suck its
readers into a bout of sorrow, but Doughty - a trustworthy tour
guide through the repulsive and wondrous world of death - keeps us
laughing most of the way
* * Washington Post * *
There's a welcome honesty to Doughty's account of her time as a
mortician, which starts when she has to shave the face of her first
corpse. In some ways, it's reassuring that we return to dust, and
Doughty's healthy humour and practicality are reassuring too
* * Glasgow Sunday Herald * *
There's something about her understanding of how fragile life can
be that got to me . . . And although none of us wants to be
confronted by that all the time, Doughty has a matter-of-factness
that makes that not as scary as it usually seems
* * Scotland on Sunday * *
Doughty writes about her life with corpses with all the sassiness
that other young women bring to penning romcoms
* * Mail on Sunday * *
Doughty is determined to lead the way in confronting mortality.
Indeed, she does not so much meet Death's gaze as attempt to stare
him into submission...Doughty's corpse-collecting adventures are
often hilarious as well as informing. If you had not planned to
pack a book about crematoria for your holiday read, this one offers
plenty of reasons to reconsider
* * Financial Times * *
A highly unusual memoir . . . a manifesto for how to live - and die
- better. Caitlin, with her no-nonsense style and absolute
single-mindedness plus a healthy dose of goth sensibility, bravely
shows that death is nothing to be afraid of
* * Twin Magazine * *
Truly riveting . . . this funerally forthright book rings with life
and dead-pan humour . . . Having read her brilliant contribution to
the death debate, I'm with her all the way to the cremation chamber
(and I'd let her push the button)
* * Bookseller, Book of the Month * *
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