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Pretty Intense

Reviewed: 04-24-23

It's short and gets to the point. I really like this book, but there's a lot of sensitive content in here so be forewarned.

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Darn man, why'd ya have to leave us so soon

Reviewed: 02-05-23

It's a fantastically entertaining listen and gets me excited about life and food.

I get to the end and my eyes start streaming tears and I'm getting upset and heartbroken at the fact the Flaco is peaced out, left this world and there's still so much food out there and world to explore.
I mean, I guess his trip is over, but listening to his ride is good - puts things in perspective.

Thanks for observing and writing this for us Tony.

Wish you were here, but hey, the way the worlds going it woulda probably just made you crazier.

To anyone reading this review, as long as you don't mind swearing and dicks then absolutely get and listen to this. There's nothing quite so cool as listening to an author read their own words to you.

And it's even crazier with something like this...like a ghost is talking to you, reading you a story...
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ghost-story.

But yeah, it's good!

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Good & Interesting listen

Reviewed: 01-01-23

This is a good listen, blend of author biography, historical document of the state of revolutionary death methods, an informative look at death in many cultures etc.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, the author's first book, is still stronger, for reasons like it is more entertaining having a simple progression from beginning, middle to end in time because it was based on a very specific period in the author's life.
This book struggles with the fact that there are so many things the author wants to share with us, but she couldn't quite keep a strong or entertaining enough through line. Each chapter is a vignettes and the entire book has a theme if only the search for a good death or the good death, but in my opinion, the author had so much content that they barely managed to bringering it together. It was trying to find that balance between scientific, philosophical, respectful and humorous that the author usually finds without issue, but it seems like she hadn't plotted an end to this one early enough in advance.
That though is perhaps the point of the book though, she went out searching for answers and here is where she found herself at the end of this indepth journey.
I just think the content in this book could have been more appropriately divided into two or three books.
One about transforming the death industry and death culture based on advancements and practices around the world.
One about the probable damage that societal and cultural shifts in the West and particularly America's views on death have caused our modern connection to death and each other.
One about scientific advancements in death, aquamation, recomposting and pyres - more people need to know and hear the facts on these things so that they can vote for them and make informed decisions.

From here to eternity is a great book, but like I said, it is so much scattered about and loosely held together under the umbrella of the search for the good death.

Regardless, this is still a great read/listen.

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A fun listen!

Reviewed: 12-30-22

She puts rhe fun in funeral everytime!

This is a cute book for little one's if you are open minded and honest as a parent, and it's entertaining and informative for adults too.

I just really enjoyed it and enjoy the author's work in general.

If you are thinking about listening with a child while on a road trip or during the morning drive to school, maybe listen to it ahead of time just to check that there is nothing to graphic for you or your child .

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A good book about journeying to a good death

Reviewed: 12-27-22

Caitlin has the sort of compassion and humor that I appreciate most in people, she's honest and not afraid to share everything. This book takes us through some huge life changing moments for her, that personally resonate with me, but should be interesting and useful to anyone. Not only is it an interesting personal period in someone's life, it is very much a piece of history in the cultivation of the death positive revolution.

Caitlin's voice and way of speaking is also terribly entertaining, often especially so when she's being honest with us about what is going through her head when she made mistakes in her life or thought she was making mistakes.

I also love the connection to the Bay Area. I lived in Oakland, CA for 10 years and all the references to SF, Oakland, The Mission etc. it made the book even more interesting for me.

Other thoughts, if a person is going to be in a "Death Cult" then The Order of The Good Death is the one to be in. It's wholesome, helpful, supportive and, in my opinion, making the world a better place a little bit at a time.

Final thoughts, this book is not an end all be all on death, the industry or even the author's personal views. This book is just a snippet of that particular moment in time and even the author has mentioned that her views, feelings and beliefs on the subject continue to evolve.
It is a great listen for many reasons, but this is one of them. It makes this book like a living organism that will funnily enough probably outlive us all.

My personal interest in the author:
I stumbled on to the author's work years ago when I wanted to know how mouths were closed by funeral homes... I watched some of her videos here and there, her TEDtalk and well before all of that I was already on my own journey with death.
I had been mentally and physically preparing for years for a big inevitable death, and while I was doing fine on my own, I'm glad I had seen a thing or two from the author.
The big death finally happened in 2021 and I handled everything and I really think I did pretty alright. I think the deceased would have been proud and happy with how things turned out.

Anyway, after the big death I finally went all in on the author's work and it's been nothing but entertaining and enlightening.
I know that I most likely wont have anyone to take care of my death, the author has empowered me to handle that now too.

Pardon how scatter brained this review is, it is terribly late at night, there is an adhd medication shortage and I am ill.
Hopefully despite all of that this review was helpful and made some sense.

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Fun

Reviewed: 02-27-20

Just something to put on to take you back to the wizarding world. It's certainly fun to listen to.

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Good Start Sloppy Finish

Reviewed: 09-23-18

This was a decent listen, I must say listening to the source material first (H.P. Lovecraft's The Horror at Red Hook) makes this far more enjoyable -at least the first half anyway. Not to mention since this story is supposed to be about Tom I would have much preferred the whole book focus on Tom's story instead of only giving us half of a story about Tom. After the first half of the book the end feels rushed as if the author just wanted to move on to something else.

Anyhow, the narrator is pretty talented. I wish he'd voiced Malone differently, but that may have to do with the way the character has been written in this book. Tom and everyone else is handled pretty well in my opinion though.
So not an amazing book, but a decent enough ride that I'd say it's worth listening too.

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4 people found this helpful

Really Fun Listen

Reviewed: 09-22-18

This was my first Lovecraft experience and I have to say it was really fun, even with the hokie audio effects. If you are looking for a short fun creepy story, this is it.

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Amazing

Reviewed: 02-19-18

The preformance of this book is fantastic, it really feels like Sam is real and really telling you his story. This book was one of the highlights of the things I read in my childhood; I didn't think that there could be a version any better than my memory. I was pleasantly mistaken!

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16 people found this helpful

The Perfect Rendition

Reviewed: 04-23-17

This is an incredible reading of a well known book by a well known other. Sissy Spacek's ability to imbue this work with such tenderness and emotion, wrenches my heart and really takes me to raw special place where I can take the time to reflect upon the human condition and myself. Wonderful book.

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