Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Jun, 03/2023 also in: 21st century | US Literature
By Caitlin Doughty
No, not the song performed so many times (although you may find a connection there). In her third book, Caitlin Doughty goes back to tell us how her relationship with the funeral industry began, and how it changed her. The book, a light read (perfect for a long flight) with occasional punchlines, is not just a biography. It aims to get the reader thinking more about death, and specifically how rich societies think and relate to death.
A bit like doctors in ERs, at the funeral home where Caitlin Doughty first started working she encounters all sorts of human beings and human reactions to death. Death, the great equalizer. Or so we like to think, because by reading Caitlin's stories, even in death there are those who struggle to meet the costs of a proper goodbye, and those who leverage their money to have a complete make-up done to the body, so that even in death their loved ones may appear rosy.
Smoke gets in your eyes is an interesting read, especially when the author discloses how the funerary industry works. Rarely explored, the workings of the funerary industry are extensive and soaked in money, on which society's functioning relies heavily. In this sense, Doughty's book deserves credit for talking openly about morticians' work and its regulation (do you know what happens to the corpse of a homeless person who died on a sidewalk? No? Then read this book).
It remains however a popular book, with the regular fascination with ancient customs, especially when they come from the "Orient" (China, Japan, and so on), regardless of their accuracy or validity. I also wished there were more nuance in how the central argument was developed. It is undeniable that rich societies (largely, those in North America, Europe, and East Asia) have radically changed their relationship to death. Children don't die anymore at the rate they used to (even in Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, deaths in pregnant and childbirth have dropped 74% in the last two decades), wars do not happen on their territories, and the poor and oppressed are kept at bay in segregated areas.
At the same time, death never ceased to be a part of any conversations. It underlies literary and artistic production, it's in pictures, movies, and people's lives. Every newspaper's front page, almost daily, has some news that involves the death of someone. The conversation about death has changed because societies and medicine have changed dramatically in the last 150 years. This book is another good (albeit simplified) reminder to redefine what death represents. But at the same time, remember that personal reactions to death are ultimately not going to vary any time soon.
No, not the song performed so many times (although you may find a connection there). In her third book, Caitlin Doughty goes back to tell us how her relationship with the funeral industry began, and how it changed her. The book, a light read (perfect for a long flight) with occasional punchlines, is not just a biography. It aims to get the reader thinking more about death, and specifically how rich societies think and relate to death.
A bit like doctors in ERs, at the funeral home where Caitlin Doughty first started working she encounters all sorts of human beings and human reactions to death. Death, the great equalizer. Or so we like to think, because by reading Caitlin's stories, even in death there are those who struggle to meet the costs of a proper goodbye, and those who leverage their money to have a complete make-up done to the body, so that even in death their loved ones may appear rosy.
Smoke gets in your eyes is an interesting read, especially when the author discloses how the funerary industry works. Rarely explored, the workings of the funerary industry are extensive and soaked in money, on which society's functioning relies heavily. In this sense, Doughty's book deserves credit for talking openly about morticians' work and its regulation (do you know what happens to the corpse of a homeless person who died on a sidewalk? No? Then read this book).
It remains however a popular book, with the regular fascination with ancient customs, especially when they come from the "Orient" (China, Japan, and so on), regardless of their accuracy or validity. I also wished there were more nuance in how the central argument was developed. It is undeniable that rich societies (largely, those in North America, Europe, and East Asia) have radically changed their relationship to death. Children don't die anymore at the rate they used to (even in Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, deaths in pregnant and childbirth have dropped 74% in the last two decades), wars do not happen on their territories, and the poor and oppressed are kept at bay in segregated areas.
At the same time, death never ceased to be a part of any conversations. It underlies literary and artistic production, it's in pictures, movies, and people's lives. Every newspaper's front page, almost daily, has some news that involves the death of someone. The conversation about death has changed because societies and medicine have changed dramatically in the last 150 years. This book is another good (albeit simplified) reminder to redefine what death represents. But at the same time, remember that personal reactions to death are ultimately not going to vary any time soon.