Caitlin spends a lot of time in this criticizing the American/Western funeral industry and she’s completely right. 
I think it’s important that a mortician of all people is being out spoken about this issue and how she actively advocates for reform. 

She brings up how manipulative and rushed the process is for grieving families in America.

They are forced to hurry up and make important and huge financial decisions when it comes to giving their loved ones proper burials.

How outrageously expensive it is. Spending several thousands of dollars on a casket just to put it in the ground. (My words not hers) 

And finally, how far removed the families are from their newly deceased loved ones in this whole process. 

After a death, there is so much rush to hurry up and take care of it. Not giving the family any time to grieve before having to go through the hard time of burying their loved ones.

And there are so many stipulations on keeping the family away or putting barriers between them. 

In several of these cases of Caitlin traveling the world and seeing different ways other countries and cultures deal with death, these people are actively involved in the funeral processes and most of the time are doing it themselves without professionals like morticians. They are also close to their loved ones like in Spain, where they can sit in a room with their loved one separated by a glass casket but still being able to be in the room and grieve. 

She also talks about how Westerner/Americans are so uncomfortable with the idea of death and dead people. 

So much so, that we refuse to talk about what we want after we’re gone with our families because we are superstitious that talking about it will bring on our untimely demise. And maybe that is the result of what our funeral industry is like because we are so far removed from the process in putting a loved one to rest and seeing it be done 

I think she’s totally right.

 I am respectful of tradition and love learning about different cultures and their rituals but I was (as an American) bewildered and uncomfortable of how some of these cultures dealt with the dead. 

And it’s not coming from a place of  judgement, it’s more of a place of curiosity and shock because we as Americans, are so removed from and so uncomfortable of the reality of death so it’s not usual for us. 

This book was really reflective in that way and made me think about what I want for my body 

I have always said I want to give back to the Earth in some way which is why I liked the chapters from North Carolina and Bolivia.

I had never heard of this process of turning corpses into compost and the idea does unsettle me a little bit, especially if I was the person to be planting with corpse soil but it’s a totally sustainable way of completely disposing of your body that won’t harm the environment but in fact contributes more to it by being able to plant new life with it which is beautiful. And yes, I would love to be the soil underneath a willow tree or rose bush.

When I first heard of sky burials, I genuinely considered this process for my body and the way Caitlin talked about it, sold it to me even more. It’s another completely sustainable way of disposing of your body, you’re giving back to nature and like she said, we all eat animals after they’re dead, so why not give your body back to the animals? 

The other chapters I enjoyed were:
Colorado, Mexico, and Japan. 

I’ve always been interested in the idea of funeral pyres and I didn’t know any had still existed in the world (same with the sky burials).

I had no idea how long cremations had been going on for. For example, they talk about the discovery of the Mungo Lady bones in 1960 and concluded they were from 42,000 years ago where she was cremated when she died! That’s nuts. 

I also didn’t know they produced so much pollution but it makes sense when you think about it. The popularity in cremations growing scares me for the state of our environment. 

The Mexico chapter was so emotional. I always loved the tradition of Día de los muertos. Keeping the memory of your loved ones alive by dedicating an altar to them with their favorite things is so sweet. 

Sarah’s story was so heartbreaking and the way she found healing in Frida Kahlo’s artwork where she had went though the same thing was really touching. 

Japan is so advanced and they just have everything figured out over there. 

The idea of the Ruriden is so cool. 
Easily being able to find your loved ones plot by scanning a card and it lighting up for you is awesome. 

They also talk about how Japan has a low birth rate and how a quarter of the population is over the age of 65 with the life expectancy being high. So there are old people providing care for even older people and a lot of these people sometimes die alone because they don’t have any family which is really sad.

In America, where they would probably put someone who had no family to claim them or have the money to bury or cremate someone in an unmarked grave/plot. 

The Ruriden provides a final resting place for them. The creator of it goes in every day and is able to type in that days date and see a light for everyone who died that day. Then, he says a prayer and lights and incense so they are not forgotten and I think that is so sweet.

I liked Caitlin’s other book more, “Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?” It was a little more light hearted and less morbid. I was uncomfortable at times with the descriptions of dead or mummified bodies (still American over here) I still enjoyed it and always love learning new things. I will eventually read her other book someday 


I didn’t expect to write such a lengthy review but thank you for reading this if you made it this far