As a practicing mortician, Caitlin Doughty has long been fascinated by our pervasive terror of dead bodies. In this new book she sets out in search of cultures unburdened by such fears, exploring Indonesian burial caves and meeting a Bolivian natita (a cigarette-smoking, wish-granting human skull). With curiosity and morbid humour, Doughty encounters vividly decomposed corpses, participates in diverse death practices, and uncovers historical and national oddities. Appraising 'dignified' Western funerary traditions (in which we pump bodies full of chemicals or burn them in giant ovens), she marvels as people create new spaces for mourning - including a futuristic glowing-Buddha columbarium in Japan, a candlelit Mexican cemetery, and America's only open-air pyre in Colorado. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY tells a story that expands our sense of what's 'normal' and explores how unexpected moments of comfort and healing can be gained through directly tending to our deceased.
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Would you sleep with a corpse? Seek guidance from a skull? Or feed your loved ones to vultures? For some cultures this is an integral part of their culture and how they deal with and respect their dead. This book turn upside down the notion of what it means to have a good death. A absolute must read for anyone interested in different cultures. Or just the morbidly inclined reviewer. - Zachary (QBD)
Guest, 18/11/2018
