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

Caitlin Doughty

Sep 2014 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this ebook

"Morbid and illuminating" (Entertainment Weekly)—a young mortician goes behind the scenes of her curious profession.

Armed with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre, Caitlin Doughty took a job at a crematory and turned morbid curiosity into her life’s work. She cared for bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, and became an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. In this best-selling memoir, brimming with gallows humor and vivid characters, she marvels at the gruesome history of undertaking and relates her unique coming-of-age story with bold curiosity and mordant wit. By turns hilarious, dark, and uplifting, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes reveals how the fear of dying warps our society and "will make you reconsider how our culture treats the dead" (San Francisco Chronicle).

Ratings and reviews

Phenomenal; I never thought I'd find myself laughing--yes, laughing and often to the point of tears--at a book on this subject, but it's what makes this book such an incredible journey. I've enthusiastically recommended this book to friends and family and will continue to do so, because of the author's willingness to delve deeply into a reality most of us wish didn't exist. The gift of this book is how brilliantly it makes you feel the smoke in your eyes while making it possible to push past wishful thinking and euphemisms to accept what's behind the curtain like in the Wizard of Oz. This wild ride, and I mean that in the best sense, takes us behind the scenes into traditional/conventional death-processing and the frankly horrific stuff that goes on therein. Past the horror, thankfully, we are introduced to less-awful alternatives that make me grateful for this author and others like her who are doing what they can to make death and its aftermath more bearable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Caitlin writes from a perspective I see akin to my own but oh so much braver. She writes in the exact cadence and rhythm in which she talks to her community in "Ask a Mortician" and her explanation of the journey we make from ashes to ashes never takes on anything but a positively realistic tone. I read this and each page felt like I was sitting having coffee with a friend, one who truly cares about my outlook and perspective on dying, death and what I can do to make my death (whenever that may be) a holistic and positive experience for my loved ones. I can't wait for her next work.

Like a bad car accident, I couldn't look away. This book takes the subject of death and the funeral/crematory industry and offers a peek of what goes on. Whether you are interested in employment or, are looking for a great Halloween read, this book delivers. I've always been curious about death and the first chapter or so had the creep factor, but the more I read, I became desensitized, just as society once was. Good book and a good job by the author.

About the author

Caitlin Doughty is a mortician and the New York Times best-selling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, From Here to Eternity, and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? She is the creator of the web series Ask a Mortician, and the founder of The Order of the Good Death. She lives in Los Angeles, California, where she owns a funeral home.